National Championship Title Goes to BYU Landscape Management Students

Of the 28 competitions, BYU had 15 students finish in the top five

A group of undergraduate landscape management students from Brigham Young University has won the national championship title from the National Collegiate Landscape Competition, which was held at Colorado State University.

Of the 28 competitions, BYU had 15 students finish in the top five. Five students were awarded first place, including Jessica Buss in Annual and Perennial Plant Identification, Mack Drzayich in Exterior Landscape Design, Sarah Asay in Interior Plant Identification and Billy Hyatt and Blake Pumphrey in Hardscape Installation.

In addition to the competition and recruiting events, BYU students received six out of 47 scholarships awarded by the PLANET Academic Excellence Foundation (AEF). The AEF is a nonprofit foundation that provides academic scholarships to promising students aspiring to be landscape industry professionals.

More than 850 college students from 62 of the nation's top landscape programs competed in the 38th annual competition.

“This award is a great honor for our students and for BYU,” said BYU Associate professor of Landscape Management Greg Jolley. “During their time in the program, these students become outdoor living specialists, this honor is industry proof of that hard work and accomplishment. And the experience of this competition will help them throughout their careers."

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Originally published in BYU News.