14
THE DAVEY BULLETIN
|
March/April 2018
A TRADITION OF DAVEY EXCELLENCE AT D.I.T.S.
Forty-eight students from across North
America and different service lines
gathered at the Davey Institute in Kent,
Ohio, to participate in a tradition of
Davey excellence, the Davey Institute
of Tree Sciences (D.I.T.S.).
This prestigious training program
packs a wealth of tree care knowledge
into four weeks. The students were
exposed to the topics of practical tree
care, the technical sciences, manage-
ment and more. Some of the sessions
included tree risk assessment, tree
climbing, tree anatomy and physiology,
plant diagnostics and management
and the future of arboriculture.
Joshua Cook, sales arborist, Hamilton,
Ontario, R/C office, said D.I.T.S.
strengthened the areas he was
semi-knowledgeable about and led
to a greater level of understanding
in others.
"It's recognizing the plateaus of
knowledge where you think you know
something really well, but you start
to look at it from someone else's
expertise or point of view," Cook said.
"And, it helps you recognize the things
you were overlooking."
Tyler Andrews, sales arborist trainee,
Fort Collins R/C office, said D.I.T.S. was
more difficult than he was expecting,
especially the second and third weeks.
"You could definitely see that they
were teaching the course for the
International Society of Arboriculture
Certified Arborist
®
exam that we all
had to take," Andrews said. "That's
a lot of information to pack into
two weeks."
Coming from a utility background,
Abraham Nunez, general foreman,
Oklahoma Gas and Electric account,
said the material has broadened his
tree care knowledge.
"We do proper pruning, but when
you are here you learn it's more than
making a cut," Nunez said. "You give
more respect to the trees. It's very
impressive how trees respond to
weather, disease and insects."
For Dave Benninger, area manager,
Davey Resource Group, the network-
ing aspect of D.I.T.S. was just as
valuable as the information gained
from the sessions.
"Knowing that we are building lasting
relationships with people across
multiple divisions, areas and specialties,
I think helps support our own offices
and areas," Benninger said.
Nunez said coming to D.I.T.S. made
him respect all the people in the room
and see that Davey is so much more
than simply cutting trees.
"We all learned from each other,"
Nunez said. "We all come from
different areas, but at the same time
we are one big team at Davey."
MY DAVEY
