Kwantlen Campus News October 2014

by Stan Kazymerchyk, Turfgrass Management Instructor

School is back, with 10 returning students and 10 eager new ones. Tom Calder is leading the Turf Club this year. Fall fund raising activities include the Redwoods golf tournament , bottle drive, lawn bowling social and Grey Cup pub night with raffle.

Proceeds from these events will fund student Conference 2014 attendance. Turf Club is also preparing for another Golf Rounds Raffle. Last years event netted $5,000 for WCTA Turfgrass Research.

Special thanks to our generous turf industry partners who are tee sponsors for our major fundraiser, the Redwoods Golf Tournament Oct 4:

WCTA, Taylors Turf Care, Terra Equipment, Target Products, Western Turf Farms , Prairie Coast Equipment, BCGSA, Brett-Young, Farm-Tek, TerraLink, Messner & Kenny Legal, Keso, Direct Solutions, Rollins, Premier Pacific Seeds

Turf student bio:  Wesley Treadwell

I think being born and raised in the Wine Capital of Canada has been a major catalyst for my interest in Horticulture. With 34 wineries surrounding the Oliver area and only 2 golf courses, it might be surprising to note that my real passion is in turf and not agriculture. However, if you’ve played at my home course of Fairview Mountain Golf Club, you would understand.

In my senior year of high school, I felt a real push to quickly pursue a post-secondary education, especially since my hobbies of playing video games and socializing with friends wasn’t going to pay the bills. The sentiment was this: if you didn’t go to college, you would work at McDonalds’ for the rest of your life; so after graduating from high school in 2011, I rushed off to UBCO without a real plan.

I enrolled in the Bachelor of Science and quickly realized the downside of being pressured into a decision that potentially shapes the rest of your life. After the first year, I moved back home and opted for making money doing what I loved rather than spending money on something I have no interest in. Working at Fairview under the mentorship of Superintendent Arthur Riome, is a big part of why I am here today.

After a couple years of watching my peers go back to college for their second and third years, I once again felt the push of post-secondary education. I enjoyed my job but felt as if I was falling behind. That’s when I inquired about advancing my job as a groundsman into an actual career. Arthur put me in contact with Stan Kazymerchyk and the following year, I was enrolled in the Turf Management program at KPU.

Stan was a real driving force in my decision to come to Langley and he also gave me the idea to pursue financial aid from the Ministry of Social Development. With an already sizeable student loan from my trial year at UBCO, finding funds to achieve my goal proved to be difficult.

It was at that point where I went to my local Open Door Group. I told them that I worked seasonally at Fairview and wanted to morph it into a career that allowed me to work all year long and not go on EI every winter. On that platform, I worked through a few months of paper work which resulted in complete sponsorship that allowed me to pay for college and follow my ambitions.

It is incredible the amount of resources available in this awesome country we call Canada, sometimes all you have to do is ask. If you are interested in training for a career, contact your local Open Door Group that has locations all across the province. For me, they were able to provide a grant that coverred my entire tuition as well as help pay for books and supplies, travel costs, food costs, and any other living expenses that I have.

Apply in advance.  They don’t ask for the money back but there is a lot of jumping through hoops that needs to be done in order to obtain funding. With the proper diligence and ambition, you too can be on the way to a rewarding career. Now that I am on my way to a lifelong career, opening that door and following through was the best decision I’ve ever made.

Wesley Treadwell
First year KPU Turf student