Horticulture Student Earns Scholarship; Faculty Member Recognized

Published 03.16.2018

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A Pennsylvania College of Technology student was recently awarded a $5,000 scholarship from the Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association Foundation at an event that also shone a spotlight on a faculty member’s longtime commitment to the industry.

Aaron A. Sledge Jr., of Pittsburgh, a second-year student in landscape/horticulture technology: plant production emphasis, was among the honorees at the organization’s Pennsylvania Green Industry Forum and Member Recognition Event at the Hershey Country Club.

Scholarship recipient Aaron A. Sledge Jr., a Penn College landscape/horticulture technology major from Pittsburgh, is joined by Daniel Eichenlaub, chair of the Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association Foundation and president of Eichenlaub Inc., a Pittsburgh-based landscape construction and maintenance firm.Successful candidates must be in an advanced year of study in horticulture or a related field, have a 3.0 GPA in their major (and a minimum 2.5 overall), have excelled in special projects or activities demonstrating their ability to apply knowledge gained to real-life or on-the job situations, and have a positive personality and willingness to continue in the nursery industry.

“Aaron is a much-deserved recipient of this scholarship,” said Carl J. Bower Jr., assistant professor of horticulture. “His passion, drive and enthusiasm, coupled with his knowledge of plants, will serve him and our industry well.”

Carl J. Bower Jr.The event also included an award to Bower himself: The 1993 landscape/nursery technology graduate of Penn College was accorded “PCH Emeritus” status in recognition of his 25 years as a Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturist.

Realizing that heightened job responsibilities make it difficult to obtain continuing-education credits in the horticulture field, the PLNA board initiated the emeritus program “to make sure individuals are recognized for their dedication and achievement of maintaining this designation during their career.”

Along with his associate degree, Bower holds a bachelor’s in technology management from the college and a master’s in education from Wilkes University. He joined the college as an adjunct faculty member in 2001 and, in 2006, became a full-time instructor in what is now the School of Transportation & Natural Resources Technologies.

In addition to roundtable discussions, the Hershey event featured keynote speeches from Russell C. Redding, state secretary of agriculture, and Tal Coley, director of government affairs for AmericanHort.

Founded in 1904, PLNA is the leading trade association representing Pennsylvania’s $6.8 billion green industry. Its members comprise landscape contractors, retail garden centers, wholesale nurseries and greenhouses.

For more about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education and workforce development, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.