Turf lab
Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg
Imagine standing at the 18th hole of one of the nation’s top golf courses. All you see for miles is perfectly planned and manicured rolling green grass. You think to yourself, “How do they make this place so magnificent?”
You might have a Terp to thank for all that perfection. The University of Maryland’s Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA) is home to a turfgrass management program that prepares students for careers developing and maintaining turf for major landscapes such as golf courses and sports arenas. The program has gained the respect of local and national facilities for producing well-trained graduates and consistently placing high in major student competitions. This respect often earns scholarships and internships for students, not to mention excellent jobs after graduation.
The turfgrass management program has four separate concentrations– golf course management, general turf, sports turf and golf course construction, with the majority of students focusing on golf course management. As an extracurricular activity, a number of students compete in the various national competitions the IAA takes part in each year. Large competitions like the Collegiate Turf Bowl hosted by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and sponsored by John Deere, draw dozens of schools from across the nation to compete each year. Since the annual competition began 18 years ago, IAA has participated in the last 14, placing within the top ten 13 times, including last year when its teams finished third and seventh place out of 87 teams. The proud IAA students also took home second place in the 2012 Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) Student Challenge, which involved 36 teams.
Consistently winning competitions has earned industry respect, which, in turn, benefits the students. “For the students who are competing and doing well in these competitions, it’s a resume-builder,” says Dr. Kevin Mathias, advisor and lecturer for turfgrass management majors.
“There’s a lot of interest in how the students do at the competitions. A number of industry people competed themselves maybe 15 years ago or so. So when they hire people, they know what that’s about,” Dr. Mathias said.
“Locally, within the Mid-Atlantic area, there’s that reputation that Maryland’s IAA students do well. Last year when we placed third at the Turf Bowl, there were a lot of people in the industry congratulating the students or calling to see how they did,” he said. “When we were at the STMA Student Challenge, industry representatives at both the national and local level were very impressed and congratulated the team on their performance. That adds to the prestige of the program and the students coming out of it.”
The turfgrass management program integrates management skills such as people management, budgeting and communication with a solid science background in plant science and pest management. For example, in the Capstone course INAG 215, students must develop fertility, labor and pest management programs within an operating budget format for a specific and unique sports turf or golf course facility.
Students are also required to obtain internships as part of the turfgrass program, which often lead to full-time jobs after graduation. In fact, according to Mathias, many students graduate with three or four job offers in town, and out of the 180 to 190 golf courses in the state of Maryland, about half employ IAA graduates either as head or assistant superintendants. Recent graduates went to well-known facilities such as Congressional Country Club, Columbia Country Club, Woodmont Country Club, Cattail Creek Country Club and the Bidermann Golf Club. Dr. Mathias credits much of the program’s continued success to a strong support system and a desire to give back. Not only do former students who currently work in turfgrass management look to the IAA when recruiting new interns and employees, but there is a desire throughout the industry to help the new generation grow and succeed.
“People in the industry are very supportive either by morally supporting students in competitions or through endowments,” he said. “They look at the program as a positive thing, and they always stay involved.”
John Strickland, who approached Dr. Mathias at a competition this past February, wanted to help and provided the school’s most recent endowment of $50,000 for student scholarships. Turf Equipment Supply, which employs a number of IAA graduates, established an endowment five years ago that now supports two scholarships annually.
The Institute also partners with the Shields family to hold the Shields Memorial Tournament, which raises money for IAA turfgrass student scholarships and provides funding to send students to national competitions. The tournament began in 1983, when former student John Shields wanted to give back to the program. Decades later, the tournament is still raising funds. As of 2012, the Shields Tournament has provided 92 scholarships totaling over $93,000 to deserving students. “If we didn’t have the support of the industry and the Shields Tournament, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do,” says Dr. Mathias.
The growing network of proficient, enthusiastic IAA turfgrass students, supportive alumni and philanthropic industry leaders is creating a cycle for success in both the university’s program and the trade as a whole. Thanks to the help of supportive alumni and industry players, IAA students will be present for both the 2013 GCSAA Collegiate Turf Bowl and the 2013 STMA Student Challenge this winter.
Update: The Maryland teams placed 3rd, 4th and 11th at the 2013 GCSAA Collegiate Turf Bowl and received 1st place in the 2013 STMA Student Challenge competition.
Article published: Momentum Magazine
Pages: 7-9
