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K-State Today

Division of Communications and Marketing
Kansas State University
128 Dole Hall
1525 Mid-Campus Drive North
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-2535
vpcm@k-state.edu

March 27, 2019

K-State Landscape Contracting Team places 12th at National Collegiate Landscape Competition

Submitted by Cathie Lavis

Forty K-State horticulture students participated in the National Collegiate Landscape Competition, March 20-23, at Colorado State University. The K-State Landscape Contracting Team placed 12th out of 64 schools and more than 800 students at the competition.

The competition is an annual landscape industry-sponsored, three-day competition and networking event for horticulture students enrolled at two- and four-year colleges and universities. Each year, a different school hosts the conference, which provides students opportunities to see other horticulture programs nationwide.

The conference brings together every sector of the green industry in a collaboration like no other. Students who attend and compete at National Collegiate Landscape Competition rate the event as one of the highlights of their college careers. The tough competition and interaction with so many facets of the industry help to frame possibilities for future careers.

The competitions also hosts the largest industry career fair in the country where students have their pick of internships and career positions from across the country. Six K-State team members also received national scholarships, and the K-State team brought home a check for $500 by winning the Career Development Series. Generous support from local, regional and national landscape firms help the K-State team offset expenses of the trip through financial contributions.

During the conference, students compete in 29 individual and team competitions, including leadership skills, arboricultural techniques, hardscape installation, plant identification, sales presentation, exterior/interior landscape design, irrigation troubleshooting, landscape construction and maintenance estimating, skid steer, employee development, business management and other related industry activities.

This year, several members of the K-State team placed in the Top 10 of their events: Dalton Dunn, woody ornamental plant identification; Tyler Clements, mini track loader operation; Jordan Robinson and Sofia Adinolfi, employee management; Katy Doll, sales presentation; Landon Forche, tractor loader backhoe operation; Cait Carlson, Claudia Giacone and Kinzie Ratliff, landscape plant installation; Kristin Vaughn, interior plant identification; and Renata Goossen, annual and perennial identification.

The team coaches are Greg Davis and Cathie Lavis. K-State has taken a team consistently for 18 years. In 2012, Davis and Lavis led the horticulture and natural resources department in hosting more than 800 students and several hundred industry leaders to the K-State campus for the event.

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