Aug 26, 2005

HRI Announces WinnersSource: ANLA

The Horticultural Research Institute (HRI), the research division of the American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA), received more than $276,000 in contributions to the HRI Endowment Fund during its reception held in Alexandria, Va., at the historic River Farm. Green Industry members recognized family, friends and peers by making contributions to HRI’s Legacy Club and Very Important Partners (VIP) Funds.

In addition to all of the donations HRI also announced the winners of some of its scholarships:

Spring Meadow Scholarship. Michelle B. Janz has been awarded the 2004 $1,500 Spring Meadow Scholarship. Jantz is a resident of Drummond, Ok., and a senior at Oklahoma State University. She is a landscape architecture and landscape contracting major with a minor in horticulture. After graduation, Jantz will pursue a master’s degree in environmental science. She hopes that her knowledge of design, construction and the environment will allow her to manage her own landscape architecture firm one day. She has a passion for developing low impact designs that enhance natural resources and restore the environment within urban settings.

Bright, well-trained and qualified people are essential to the nursery industry, which is the reason Dale and Liz Deppe of Spring Meadow Nursery initiated the Spring Meadow Scholarship Fund in 1999. This fund is dedicated to helping aspiring students from across the country obtain a degree in horticulture. The scholarship fund is Spring Meadow’s way of giving back, and sharing with others the excitement for plants and the nursery industry.

Usrey Family Scholarship. The 2004 $1,000 Usrey Family Scholarship was awarded to Peter Zendejas. Zendejas will be a senior at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona this fall. His major is in ornamental horticulture. During high school his interest in landscaping and plants began while working with his father doing landscape maintenance. Zendejas plans to receive a master’s degree in plant science after he finishes school with a B.S. in horticulture. He hopes to one day own and operate a nursery.

Susie and Bruce Usrey of Monrovia Growers Inc., Azusa, Calif., established the Usrey Family Scholarship in 2001. The Usrey family considers graduating students in horticulture to be the lifeblood of the green industry. The scholarship is awarded annually to horticulture students enrolled in a California state university or college.

Akehurst Scholarship . The $1,000 2004 Carville M. Akehurst Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Breanna Rau. Breanna Rau is a junior horticulture and landscape architecture student at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, Va., Rau has an associate’s degree in applied science, agriculture business with a specialization in horticulture from the Lord Fairfax Community College, Middletown, Va. She was vice-president of the Lord Fairfax Community College Horticulture Club. She received the National Dean’s List Award and the Colonel Harry B. Ruhsam Agriculture and Natural Resources Award for the Class of 2004.

The Carville M. Akehurst Memorial Scholarship was established in 2002 by HRI and the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, Inc. (MANTS). This scholarship serves to memorialize Carville M. Akehurst who served the horticultural industry as one of the founders of MANTS. MANTS, an association formed from the state nursery and landscape associations of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, together with HRI, has established this scholarship with the belief that the strength and future success of the horticulture industry lies in the solid education of today’s students.

Founded in 1963, HRI has directed more than $4 million of industry funds to 600 research projects covering the full range of production, environmental and business issues important to the green industry. HRI distributed $220,000 in grants for its 2005 scholarships and research projects initiative.