Top-Performing Landscape Students Take Awards

PLANET Student Career Days draws 65 teams and 800-plus competitors to Colorado State University; Ohio student takes top individual honors, BYU - Prov is top team.

Paver installation is one of many competitions at Student Career Days.
Paver installation is one of many competitions at Student Career Days.

What do you get when you cross several hundred landscaping student “athletes” with dozens of employee-seeking landscaping companies and roughly a dozen of the industry’s leading equipment manufacturers and suppliers? PLANET’s annual Student Career Days event, that’s what.

Approximately 800 students attended the 38th annual PLANET Student Career Days—The National Collegiate Landscape Competition—at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, March 20-23.

Watch a video from this year’s event

Some 65 teams, including two FFA high school teams, participated in 28 individual and team competitions. Tree climbing, hardscape installation, wood construction, plant identification, sales presentation, exterior/interior design, irrigation troubleshooting, skid steer, 3D exterior landscape design, personnel management, and small engine repair were just a few of the events.

Awards were given to the top-placing students, called “Superstars,” as well as to the winning teams. The individual winners were:

  • First place, Hayden Angelotta, Cuyahoga Community College (Highland Hills, OH)
  • Second place, Matt Case of Alamance Community College (Graham, NC)
  • Third place, Jeff Elshoff of Michigan State University (Lansing, MI)

The top three superstars received scholarship money from PLANET AEF, the Academic Education Foundation.

Brigham Young University - Provo took first place in the overall competitive events, followed by Brigham Young University - Idaho in second place, and Michigan State University in third. BYU - Provo took home $5,000 from Stihl for winning first place.

For a complete list of winners, visit the Student Career Days website

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