More Than Friendship
As the Penn State Department of Horticulture celebrates its centennial and the Horticulture Club inches closer to its 100-year anniversary, some student members reflect on the importance of their education, the organization and its many activities.
The club’s events include the Horticulture Show, Valentine’s Day Flower Sale, Community Serve at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center and field trips to nurseries, gardens and landscape companies.
The Horticulture Show is a major annual fund-raiser for the club that involves a student-built landscape inside the Snider Ag Arena, explains Randy Ross, a senior majoring in Landscape Contracting. “The students put together the landscape entirely themselves, and the materials are donated by people in the horticulture industry,” he says.
The theme of last year’s show, “Hiking through Horticulture,” focused on the native plants of the Appalachian Mountains. This event is open to the public and the plant materials are for sale.
“We make these shows an educational experience for all,” says former club president Ben Keim, a senior Horticulture major from Reading.
Laura Maynard, a senior Landscape Contracting major from Wellsboro, Pa., believes the Horticulture Club is good for students because it encourages them to get involved and use their skills for multiple activities. “The organization allows us to connect with others in the same or related majors,” she says.
Ross, from Hazleton, Pa., credits the club with helping him when he transferred from the Penn State Hazleton campus. “By making friends in the Hort Club, I was introduced to other like-minded people,” he says. “That helped me easily make the transition to University Park from a smaller environment.”
But friendship isn’t the only benefit students gain from being in the Horticulture Club, points out Lindsey Kammerer, a senior from Harrisburg, Pa., majoring in Environmental Soil Science. “I received leadership opportunities, too,” she says. “It gave me ideas about how to pursue my interest in working with plants.”
Through the club’s activities, Maynard thinks she has realized her strengths and learned more about what she could do with her major. “Being able to connect with people in a similar field not only will help me get through my course work but create strong contacts for the future,” she says.
Kammerer stresses that the club is not just for those in the Horticulture major but for anyone who has an interest in plants. “Whether you like cutting flowers, designing landscapes or just admiring the beauty of plants, this club is for you,” she says.