Kwantlen Campus News
from Stan Kazymerchyk, Instructor, Turf Managment Program
Students combined local community service with hands-on learning for several projects this fall. They renovated the lawn of the Michaud Heritage Home, rebuilt the practice green for Tall Timbers, cored & topdressed for Langley Lawn Bowls, raked bunkers at Poppy Estates and renovated a Langley ballpark pitchers mound and bullpen.
Kwantlen supported the CGSA/BCGSA Fall Field Day with a “Hole in One” sponsorship. Steve “Ace” Kerbrat showed us how its done the day before, but sadly even he could not make the shot for 2 years of Turfgrass Management tuition.
Class Field Trips included visits with Kings Links, Target, Vancouver Golf Club, Langley Township Parks, Morgan Creek, Terralink, Surrey Parks and TDS. Highlight trip was to Seattle for grounds tours of Safeco Field and Chambers Bay.
KPU students pitch-in to renovate a Langley baseball mound
KPU students were digging Burnaby Mountain Superintendent Peter Sorokovsky
The Turf Club conducted several successful fundraising events; two golf tournaments, a Lawn Bowling social, Poinsettia sale, golf pass raffles, Grey Cup pool and Grey Cup Pub Nite. Proceeds from these events support students’ WCTA dues, Conference costs and Turfgrass Research Fund donation. Special thanks to Turf Club event supporters: WCTA, David Duncan, Taylors Turf Care, Terralink, Pagoda Ridge, Sagebrush, Sandpiper, Kings Links, Sun Peaks, Osoyoos, Mission, Poppy Estates, Guildford and Heather Hills.
Kwantlen Turfgrass student Bio:
“Hi, my name is Janine McDonald. I live in Port Coquitlam. It’s a great place to walk the dog on the many trails nearby. I love going camping, shopping and couponing. I worked in the hospitality industry for many years and realized I was bored. One day I saw an ad for a landscaping company that was hiring. I knew I liked the outdoors, working with my hands and I was detailed and organized. | applied, was hired and found a job I really loved. Within 3 years I applied for Coquitlam Parks and was hired into sports fields maintenance. The best thing I like about the job is driving the big tractors and gang mowers. The most important thing I learned in this job is that it involves way more than knowing about grass. I love the variety of jobs I get to do on a daily basis including baseball and soccer refits, fertilizing, liming, mowing fields and parks, among many other things. I had recently taken the Residential landscape technician course at the continuing education in Burnaby but decided I wanted to take my education further by going to Kwantlen to get my turf management diploma. I love this program because there is also a lot of variety in the courses. I’ve learned everything from plant ID, turf management, computers to power equipment and irrigation. I am happy to have accomplished going to school fulltime and also working a full time job. I was also grateful to have received the Ralph and Grace Fisher horticulture endowed award this year. I would love to see more girls exploring this career as well as the turf management diploma. It is a really fun job. It’s great to work with the guys, it’s good exercise and you learn a lot of life skills. I am looking forward to finishing my diploma and moving up in my career to be a future sports fields groundskeeper. I love to continually learn so who knows where the future will take me after that.”