Host school wins the 41st National Collegiate Landscape Competition

Brigham Young University won the $5,000 check from STIHL.
Photo: Jill Odom

The 41^st National Collegiate Landscape Competition came to a close on Saturday, March 18, and students waited eagerly to hear the results of their events.

Kory Beidler, NCLC chair and director of training and development at LandCare, thanked Brigham Young University – Provo, for hosting the event and presented a plaque to the landscape management department.

“First off the weather has been fantastic, I mean to be in Utah in March and have this amazing weather is sort of unheard of so that’s been great. The other part is as a chair, selfishly speaking, the BYU team has been amazing hosts,” Beidler said. “They’ve actually made my life super easy because they’ve had all their T’s crossed and all their I’s dotted. They’ve done everything, they’ve thought of everything. They have great people helping from volunteers to the people helping each industry event, so that’s been wonderful to work with. I feel like the whole community came to help in one way or another and that’s been great to see.”

Next Roger Phelps, corporate communications manager for STIHL, stepped up to announce the winner of the #RealSTIHL Spirit Award, which went to the student who posted the most on social media about the event. Mackenzie Hare from North Carolina State University was named the overall winner and was awarded a $1,000 check.

Ewing Irrigation and Hunter Industries, which run the career development series, recognized the schools that had the most students who attended with Spokane Community College winning the 1 to 10 division, North Dakota State University winning the 10 to 24 division and Kansas State University winning for the 25 + division.

The Outstanding Educator of the Year was presented to BYU associate professor Greg Jolley.

“The best part of teaching is being with students,” he said. “It’s the highlight of my day.”

Beidler then moved on to name the first, second and third place winners of 29 events. Brigham Young University Provo placed 11 times in the events and Michigan State University placed 12 times, but BYU ended up pulling out the win by a 90-point difference.

The individual student superstars this year were Tyler Gilson from Michigan State in first, Jeremy Garner from Rochester Tech and Community College in second and Steve Boot from Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture in third.

Below are the top 10 schools in descending order. The 42^nd NCLC will be at Alamance Community College in Graham, North Carolina and is scheduled for March 14-17, 2018. For a full listing of the winners for each event, go to landscapeprofessionals.org.

Top 10 Schools

10th – University of Georgia

9^th – Pennsylvania State University

8^th – Cal Poly – Pomona

7^th – North Carolina State University

6^th – Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture

5^th – Cuyahoga Community College

4^th– Brigham Young University – Idaho

3^rd – Colorado State University

2^nd – Michigan State University

1^st – Brigham Young University – Provo