18
THE DAVEY BULLETIN
|
January/February 2021
LEADERSHIP
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR GREEN CAREERS
The Davey Institute and Brigham Young University at Idaho
have partnered in green industry education for roughly
15 years. During the fall 2020 semester, 15 students at
BYU-Idaho took a landscaping grounds maintenance course,
designed by the technical advisors at the Institute, through
Brainier, the same learning management system Davey
uses for virtual training. The online course is designed for
students to work at their own pace while still being exposed
to Davey's culture and training, something especially helpful
during the COVID-19 pandemic when it's more difficult to
train and recruit in-person, said Reese Nelson, professor
of horticulture at BYU-Idaho.
"One of the best ways for me to keep the educational
process real is to ask industry people what to teach," Nelson
said. "The Davey Institute has allowed me to keep it real
and pertinent and to teach content that will help these young
people in their careers. I am very optimistic about the future
of the arboriculture industry. Everyone wants to be good
stewards of the environment, and caring for our green
spaces in professional ways is what Davey is all about."
As a result of this educational relationship, several BYU
graduates have gone on to fulfilling careers with Davey.
Pictured are students in BYU-Idaho professor Reese Nelson's
landscaping grounds maintenance course. The course topics
included: tree structures; transplanting; proper mulching and pruning
techniques; soils and fertilizers; lawn pests and diseases; turfgrass
and weed identification; abiotic lawn disorders; ground covers; and
best cultural practices.
Davey Resource Group (DRG) helped
the Society of Municipal Arborists
(SMA) make their annual conference
virtual this year.
DRG provided their webinar platform
to host the conference. Dorothy
Abeyta, project developer and SMA
board member (now retired), created
the agenda for the conference that
focused on urban forestry and
environmental justice. Josh Behounek,
business development manager,
moderated the discussion sessions
and worked behind the scenes to
make sure everyone's technology
worked throughout the conference.
"This is a good example of how
Davey can be a true partner and not
just a sponsor of an event," Behounek
DRG SHARES VIRTUAL EVENT PLANNING DUTIES
said. "We want to do more to
leverage our knowledge, networks
and relationships and our experience
to help these organizations beyond
just a financial contribution."
During the conference, there was a
presentation about the Urban Forestry
Master Plan that Davey Resource Group
wrote for the city of Columbus.
