04-16-2023 Education - Flipbook - Page 10
10 The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, April 16, 2023
Community outreach, from page 1
projects with local governments, including
Prince George’s County, the City of College
Park, the City of Hyattsville, the Town of
Riverdale Park, and the Town of University
Park.
The program is led by Professor Andrew
Fellows, director of campus community connection, faculty research specialist, community
and outreach program manager, and former
mayor of the city of College Park. The program promotes partnership between the university and participating communities, including engaging undergraduate students through
capstone courses to address issues and provide
visible results.
“Through the capstone course, all projects
are designed to give students opportunities and
a way to interact with the community while
addressing a problem within a subject area of
their interest and choosing,” he says.
Sustainability is at the core of most of
the projects. Many address issues surrounding
cost-effective suggestions for reducing waste,
stormwater management, redevelopment of
city parks, and more. He cites one of the more
popular projects with the Town of Riverdale
Park, where students collaborated with the
town to increase food accessibility for hungry
and low-income residents. Objectives include
exploring the economic viability of local food
production (e.g., community gardens,) food
recovery, and distribution of food and money
from local stakeholders. The impact of university efforts such as Terps Against Hunger also
plays a role.
The goal of all projects is to have short-,
mid-, and long-term quantifiable deliverables
each semester, with all projects building on
short-term accomplishments for each project.
Fellows explains that projects like the protection and restoration of the Guilford Run
Watershed, are not “one and done” projects,
but take a comprehensive partnership working
together over time to benefit the students and
the communities in which they serve.
“These collaborative partnerships provide
students with real-world opportunities, while
faculty members can apply this work to their
research to positively affect change in the community and throughout Maryland,” he says.
“The campus can affect local change in the
community and have a better relationship with
the university through their work together.”
A symbiotic relationship is evident in
the sustainable horticulture program offered
at the Community College of Baltimore
County (CCBC.) Together with the American
Landscape Institute (ALI), the program works
to connect students with local nurseries and
landscaping companies.
The program offers an Associate of Applied
Science (AA) two-year degree as well as certificates in greenhouse management, landscape
installation, maintenance and design, turf management, and the basic horticulture technician
certificate. Students can work for a landscaping
company (or nursery) while they complete the
program through the Earn as you Learn program and receive a full tuition scholarship. The
program provides hands-on work experience
while learning about topics such as landscape
design, restoration, installation, and maintenance; turf and grounds maintenance; and
greenhouse production. The program graduates about 30 to 40 students each year.
According to Bradley Thompson, Ph.D.,
CCBC’s sustainable horticulture program
director, “Our students go on to fill positions
such as an operation manager or plant specialist at a nursery, cooperative extension agent
with the Master Gardener program, or a manager or gardener at area parks.”
According to Martha Pindale, executive
director of ALI, around 28 companies take part
in the program, including Natural Concerns,
Maxalea Landscaping and Outdoor Design
company, Cavano’s Perennials, Ladew Topiary
Garden, and Hampton National Historical Site.
She also places students in internships with the
companies that is part of the basic horticulture technician certificate program, a 12-credit
basic program that is fully funded.
The existing employees at the partnering
companies benefit as well. “Students are learning so much in the classroom on Friday and
then go to work on Monday, where they can
apply what they’ve learned in class on the
job,” she says. “I’ve heard a lot of employees
and students say they are teaching the other
employees. They’re eager to share their learned
knowledge and bring it back to their job.”
Students also attend a job fair hosted by
the program. Student feedback has been positive, with students expressing high satisfaction
with the program. “One student questioned
if the program was the right move for him,”
Thompson says. “But after he attended the job
fair, he felt he knew it was a good move since
he would have the skills needed to immediately
go into employment or even jump a few steps
in positions.”
David Pilson, of Parkville, Maryland, credits the program with allowing him to grow in
his horticulture career. He had been working
as an entry-level laborer at Natural Concerns,
a landscaping company, for about two years
when the owner of the company asked if he
wanted to take part in the program. He hadn’t
even completed the program when he was promoted to installation foreman due to the education he received from the program.
When Pilson suffered a back injury and had
difficulty working outdoors, the company even
pivoted to take advantage of his knowledge and
created a new position for him to run the purchasing system and manage the facilities. The
networking opportunities from the program
played a role in his new position as well.
“While at CCBC, I was able to network with
students and other people in the industry as
well as managers of other companies,” he says.
“I could build on those relationships as needed
in my current position.”