Full-time horticulture students and professionals will have the opportunity to meet at the Student Career Center during the annual Mid-America Horticultural Trade Show in Chicago on Jan. 18. Nearly 500 students from throughout the Midwest usually attend the Mid-Am event to meet with prospective employers, learn more about the companies and make useful connections in an informal setting.
More than 200 colleges, universities and trade/technical schools with horticultural programs are invited to the annual event, which began at the 1990 trade show. Full-time students, including high school seniors, enrolled in horticulture programs and have an interest in pursuing a career in the green industry are eligible to attend.
Representatives from nearly 80 companies are expected at the event, where they will conduct preliminary interviews for internships, summer jobs and full-time positions in areas such as landscape architecture and design, landscape construction, landscape maintenance, interiorscape, nursery production and retail garden center. The career center is intended only for students taking full-time classes in horticulture, not for industry professionals looking for jobs.
“Mid-Am is a great opportunity for students to find jobs and internships, as well as see new advances in the industry,” says Brian Attermeier, a landscape design student at Michigan State University. Michigan State was one of 33 schools that participated in the 2006 career center.
Students will also have the opportunity to visit the trade show, which includes exhibits from more than 600 horticultural companies, as well as daily educational demonstrations and a new innovation showcase. The show, sponsored by the Illinois Nurserymen’s Association, the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association and the Wisconsin Green Industry Federation, will take place Jan. 17-19 at Lakeside Center in Chicago’s McCormick Place.
