A sixteen member student team recently returned from Pomona, California after taking first place in a National Horticulture Competition. The Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) sponsored the 33rd annual event, which has the format of Horticulture Olympics, consisting of 25 events.
Approximately 60 schools from across the nation participated. In addition to the competition, there was a Career Fair in which the top green industry companies came to recruit and hand out scholarships.
The BYU-Idaho team was awarded $5000 for the university and captured eight individual scholarships of $1000 each, plus job offers. In addition, Eric Ball received the Presidential Scholarship for $2500, and Seth Reed received the Superstar Scholarship for $1500.
Important incidental highlights:Seth Reed – first place in Superstar category, the student receiving the highest total points
Catherine Zimmer – First place in Cost Estimating
Eric Ball – Top Presidential Scholarship
Greg Galbraith and Kyle Steadman – first place in Paver Installation
Kyle Steadman – Mini-Excavator
Instructors Byron John and Reese Nelson are firm believers in the benefits of getting students and industry together in close proximity. This high team placement marks the third time in recent years that BYU-Idaho has captured the national title. 
Here are a few more fun shots of the trip, and the competition.
And after all their hard work, what else did they have to do? Well, go to Disneyland and show off, of course! Congrats to the PLANET team for making 2009 another successful year at Career Days!
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