Horticulture students from Pennsylvania College of Technology finished in the top 10 of three categories in the Professional Landscape Network’s 39th annual Student Career Days held in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The eight-member Penn College contingent competed in 14 landscape-related contests during the March 11-15 event, in addition to visiting the career fair, and networking with more than 800 students and numerous industry professionals from across the country. Traveling with the group were instructor/1993 alumnus Carl J. Bower Jr. and 1978 graduate Ronald A. Burger, an Alumni Mentorship Award winner in 2013.
Joshua T. Posey, of York Haven, placed ninth in the Excavator contest; Posey and Seth J. Wyncoll, of Kempton, were seventh in the Truck and Trailer category; and Mikhala J. Umstead, of Williamsport, placed ninth in Sales. Overall, Penn College finished 39th out of 65 schools.
“The students did a great job at the competition, learning much about themselves and their skills,” Bower said. “In addition, the networking that the students did was invaluable. One student told me that he got six job offers from the career fair, despite already having a job lined up at graduation. It feels good knowing that professional opportunities like that are out there for our students.”
During Student Career Days, the group also caught up with Penn College alumni Kyle B. Brown and Jeremy L. Thorne.
Brown, a 2011 graduate, met with the team while visiting friends in Raleigh that weekend. He offered advice to the team for the contests in which he participated during past SCD competition. Thorne, a 2013 graduate and past competitor, was there to volunteer and to receive PLANET’s first Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Beginning in April, PLANET will be known as the National Association of Landscape Professionals, and Student Career Days will be renamed the National Collegiate Landscape Competition.
For more about landscape/horticulture technology at Penn College, visit www.pct.edu/landscape or contact the School of Transportation & Natural Resources Management at 570-327-4516.
For more about the college, visit www.pct.edu, email admissions@pct.edu or call toll-free 800-367-9222.