The following guest post was written by Bradley, about his internship experience with us this summer.
I am a Horticulture student at Auburn University. I found this internship program through a recruitment presentation done by Yellowstone Landscape Intern Coordinator, Lisa Hall in one of my classes last fall. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to further my horticulture knowledge by learning through experience in the field. After several interviews I found myself moving to Atlanta for the summer and so far, my internship has been a fantastic experience! There are countless lessons learned working in the field that cannot be taught in school and I feel much more prepared for a career in the industry.
An experience that I will never forget is my intern project. Every intern is required to come up with a project for the summer with their Mentor’s guidance. Mine was to create a small nursery area for the enhancement crew. This included constructing a shaded hoop house for temporary plant storage. This was on the Atlanta West’s wish list for a while, but their team did not have the time to put it together. When my Mentor, Matt, presented the idea to me during my first week, I told him I had the skills to do it! While I was confident I could manage most of the project on my own, there were times when I needed help. For instance, the nursery needed irrigation, but my only experience was a short time this summer working with the irrigation department. Needless to say, I needed guidance when it came to planning and installing the irrigation. Our Irrigation Manager, Tom, was crucial in helping me complete the job successfully as he guided me through the irrigation process. When the project was finished, I was very pleased with the results and happy to make a positive impact and leave my mark.
The great part about Yellowstone Landscape’s internship program is they provide many opportunities for interns to apply what is learned in the classroom to real-world experience. It is also a great way to expand knowledge and gain new skills in ways one might not expect. I highly recommend this internship to any student interested in becoming more prepared to work in the green industry and especially the landscape field!