MOUNT VERNON – Knox County Career Center’s (KCCC) Landscape Design & Management program competed at the National Collegiate Landscape Competition March 15-19.
KCCC was joined by two other high schools and 48 universities, over 800 individual participants in all, at the National Collegiate Landscape Competition, an annual three-day event that brings together the top landscape and horticulture students, top industry companies, and dozens of the biggest industry manufacturers and suppliers.
The competition was held in Raleigh, N.C., on the campus of North Carolina State University. KCCC had six students compete in the competition: juniors Sydnee Lang, Josie Moore and James Hurlow and seniors Keeleigh Johnston, Deion Parker and Nathan Burwell.
KCCC’s Landscape Design & Management students competed in the following events: Annual & Perennial ID (Moore, Hurlow), Compact Excavator Operation (Burwell), Compact Track/Skid Steer Loader Operation (Parker), Construction Cost Estimating (Lang), Hardscape Install (Johnston), Landscape Plant Install (Hurlow, Johnston, Burwell), Sales Presentation (Johnston), Tractor Loader Backhoe Operation (Parker), Truck & Trailer Operation (Johnston, Parker), Turf & Weed ID (Hurlow, Lang), and Woody Ornamental Plant ID (Moore).
“I enjoyed watching us compete against college students and showing them our skills. We had a great trip,” Moore said.
“It was a new and really fun experience for me," Lang said. "I enjoyed being on a college campus.”
Burwell took seventh place in Compact Excavator Operation and 17th in Hardscape Installation with Johnston, who also placed eighth in Sales Presentation, Parker took fifth place in Tractor Loader Backhoe Operation.
“As a senior, it was a really cool experience to be able to compete with different colleges around the United States," Johnston said. "It was great to use my knowledge to the best of its ability.”
KCCC and the Landscape Design & Management program thanked Town and Country Garden Club and Pheasants Forever for their donations to help fund the trip.
