Skills Canada National Competition!
Patrick Dooley Memorial Tournament Raises $11k
Patrick was excited about a career in the golf industry and planned to enroll in KPU Turf Management diploma Fall 2008 when he died of a sudden illness. His family began the Patrick Dooley Memorial Scholarship Fund to annually support a worthy KPU Turf Management student. On April 27, 2018 the KPU Turf Club hosted the 3rd annual Patrick Dooley Memorial Golf Tournament to raise funds for this scholarship and celebrate Patrick’s memory.
Read the full article
Winners at Skills Canada BC's 2018 Provincial Competition!
Congratulations to KPU's Horticulture students for winning GOLD and SILVER in the Landscape Gardening competition at the Skills Canada BC's 2018 Provincial Competition! Stuart Albertson and Matthew Schmalz took home the gold and Ridha Al‐Rammahi and Hussein Al‐Rammahi won the silver.
Bright Turf Management Future Ahead, Thanks to KPU Students
From left to right: Carolyn Reitzel Corey Hewlet, Jason Morgan, Josh Crandall, Brennan Lessick, Josh Carlsen, WCTA President Peter Sorokovsky, Duncan Longridge (Ksenia Thurston missing from pic)
The Board of Directors of the Western Canada Turfgrass Association would like to thank the turfgrass students of Kwantlen Polytechnic University for all your volunteer work; fundraising for research, and your commitment in helping our 2018 Conference & Trade Show be a huge success!Your volunteer work doesn’t go unnoticed. It is recognized by many colleagues in our industry. Taking lead roles with research fundraising and contributions sets a high standard for many to follow. It’s a necessary push we need to encourage more research contributions, so that research projects will continue to be funded.
The WCTA applauds all your efforts, and we are grateful for what you’ve given back to this great industry!
Branching Out 2018
This year, about 60 students experienced in different ways the breadth of fascinating careers that horticulture has to offer. First panel speakers took on the theme of ‘Horticulture Innovations for a Sustainable Future’.
Students then met with 27 employers representing a cross-section of the industry, including among others large-scale greenhouse vegetable producers, landscape design/maintain companies, turf grass companies and garden centre/nursery producers. These informational interviews provided students real experience of presenting to potential employers, and businesses had opportunity to meet potential new employees for the first time.
New crops: tomatoes and growers
Just after he’d planted his crop in January, students in Kwantlen University’s HORT 2493 course (Greenhouse Crop Development) took in a tour of Delta View Farms (greenhouses) and chatted with Head Grower Gord Yakel about what it takes for a grower to ‘steer’ a crop and achieve optimum crop performance. Among other topics, Gord explained the finer points of using temperature, irrigation, CO2 and screens to maximize yield and quality from the 18acres of glasshouse tomatoes that he manages. For many of these students, this was an opportunity to help ‘steer’ their budding careers into a rewarding and enjoyable sector of the horticulture industry.
For more information about the programs at KPU School of Horticulture, contact Gary Jones (Gary.Jones@KPU.ca).
For more information about Delta View Farms, and the BC Greenhouse Growers Association, visit: https://bcgreenhouse.ca/
HORT 3270 gets in the dirt
KPU’s School of Horticulture BHS degree students in the Urban Agriculture course popped along to meet with Gabriel Pliska of Frisch Farms on a fabulous fall morning in mid-October. Gabriel uses otherwise unused front- back-yards in the Arbutus-Kitsilano areas of Vancouver. With agreement from the home owners, he grows all kinds of garden vegetables, mostly through the summer season. Today, Gabriel and the students planted up a bunch of garlic for over-wintering and harvest next summer, while chatting through some of the pro’s/cons, rewards and challenges of urban agriculture on this scale.
Design Thinking in Action
Sustainable Landscape Design II students collaboratively planned and installed four visually stunning, functional patio vignettes at West Coast Gardens to successfully complete a unique practical exam. This remarkable example of experiential learning enabled the teams to reflect on critiques by West Coasts’ experts and enhance the designs yet again. According to West Coast, “The patios are being sat in and enjoyed by our customers. A few of them are missing pieces as customers have been inspired to buy and recreate at home.”