4th Place Finish for MSU at NALP National Collegiate Landscape Competition!

Marcus Duck<duckmarc@msu.edu> - April 04, 2025

The five-day event consisted of 29 unique workshops, a career fair, and competitions among students enrolled in horticulture programs from colleges and universities, with the main attraction being the competitive events.

Michigan State University’s (MSU) Student Horticulture Association (SHA) team of students finished in fourth place at the 49th Annual National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) National Collegiate Landscape Competition (NCLC) March 18th – 22nd. The event was hosted by Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO.

NCLC is the largest event of its kind in the United States and one of the main goals is to raise professionalism in our industry. The five-day event consisted of 29 unique workshops, a career fair of 73 companies from across the U.S., and competitions among students enrolled in horticulture programs from colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada, with the main attraction being the competitive events. Teams participated in an array of 30 competitions covering the business and technical aspects of the landscape industry. They designed and installed landscapes, assembled irrigation systems, identified plants and pests, operated equipment, climbed trees, installed hardscapes, estimated costs, and role-played various business and personnel management scenarios. This year’s competition involved 727 students representing 54 colleges and universities from across the country. In total, there were over 1300 attendees consisting of students, faculty, and industry professionals.

Competitive events were developed to cover different aspects of the landscape industry and to assist students in honing their practical skills as they prepare for the workforce. There are both written exams and hands-on aspects to the competition. The events are timed, and students are judged by industry representatives on their performance and ability to follow guidelines. For example, in the Irrigation Design competition, one student per school was required to answer a series of questions and/or problems pertaining to the irrigation design and applications of a diverse, large-scale commercial project. The questions were objective in nature, multiple choice, with some drawing and design calculations as well. In the Interior Plant Identification competition, two students from each school were required to identify a group of 50 indoor plants by scientific name (genus and species) and common name. The plants were live samples and selected from the master list of plants developed by industry and faculty who are actively involved in NALP and the NCLC event. Daedre McGrath was a huge help to our students competing in interior plant ID this year from the plant material we have for her new course, Houseplants and Interiorscapes, offered for the first time this spring semester.

Our team was chosen back in November. Students were selected based on service to SHA, grades, skills they possess, enthusiasm, potential team chemistry, and on a hunch that we feel a particular student will do well in a specific event. We want students who can work together as a team to support each other, and put in the hard work necessary to have a strong representation on the national stage. We met every Wednesday night from early December (minus the holiday break of course) to early March. We reviewed material to help them prepare for the competitions, worked on securing donations from industry, and worked through logistics of the intense five day NCLC schedule. Some of the tested material such as plant identification, irrigation, and cost estimating we teach in our undergraduate classes. Other skills such as equipment operation we have to rely on student work experience, but students also contact local suppliers to find equipment for them to practice. MSU Landscape Services, Riley Click at Alta Equipment in Byron Center, MI, and Drost Landscape in Traverse City, MI helped our students to get them operating hours for many of the equipment events. The team was composed of 23 students from our Certificate and BS degree programs in Horticulture, as well as a student from the Landscape Architecture program. Team members included Gage Barnadyn, Sydney Bess, Tyler Bigos, Corbyn Bouvy, Kelley Chase, Larisa Draaisma, Katie Fulkerson, Lydia Gasper, Nate Hawks, Ana Hearn, Cailyn Kerner, Megan Kieda, Lori Klecker, Ben Kuntzsch, Lanna Lowrie, Ben Mellema, Nathan Piehutkoski, Joe Reamsnyder, Aidan Riley, Emily Schneider, Chloe Snyder, Grace Whipple, Celia Wilson, and the team coach Marcus Duck.

This year we had 11 students travel three days early on their own to enjoy some extra time in Colorado. They went hiking in The Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, areas around Boulder, and worked in a couple of concerts, too. After the rest of our team arrived in Denver that Monday, our whole group met up to tour the Denver Botanic Gardens (DBG). A big thanks goes out to Matthew Ross for connecting us with Phil Douglas at DBG for the awesome visit. A smaller group of us couldn’t pass up the opportunity to drive over to Golden for a brewery tour at Coors before heading up to Fort Collins. Tuesday morning was spent on some last minute studying, and 11 students taking their qualifying exams. Then we all took a break to get some fresh mountain air on a six mile hike (almost) to the top of Horsetooth Mountain. The rest of the week was spent at workshops, opening ceremonies and receptions on Wednesday; the Career Fair, event briefings and some competitions on Thursday; and a jam packed day of competitions on Friday. This year was extra special for me since the rest of the Ducks travelled out to Colorado, too. My son Jackson came out with the Monday group for the pre-NCLC activities and helped with tearing down after the Irrigation Assembly competition on Friday. My son Jordan came out with my wife Donna on Wednesday and got to shadow the photographer for NCLC (Philippe Nobile) for a few days to get some experience since he’s interested in broadcast journalism. And this was Donna’s 15th year working on the NALP side of NCLC.

Top 15 performances in individual events included:

Plant Problem Diagnosis – Joe Reamsnyder (1st)
Safety First - Chloe Snyder, Katie Fulkerson (1st)
Interior Plant ID – Lanna Lowrie (2nd)
Business Management – Kelley Chase (tied for 3rd)
Irrigation Assembly – Larisa Draaisma, Lydia Gasper (3rd)
Irrigation Design – Larisa Draaisma (3rd)
Turf & Weed ID – Joe Reamsnyder (3rd)
Annual & Perennial ID – Celia Wilson (4th)
Landscape Maintenance Operations – Nate Hawks, Ben Mellema (4th)
Mini Track Loader Operation – Gage Barnadyn (4th)
Plant Problem Diagnosis – Chloe Snyder (tied for 4th)
Landscape Plant Installation – Ana Hearn, Nate Hawks, Ben Mellema (tied for 5th)
Maintenance Cost Estimating – Cailyn Kerner (5th)
Turf & Weed ID – Ben Kuntzsch (5th)
Hardscape Installation – Tyler Bigos, Nate Hawks (6th)
Maintenance Cost Estimating – Katie Fulkerson (6th)
Woody Ornamental ID – Aidan Riley (6th)
Irrigation Troubleshooting – Larisa Draaisma, Lydia Gasper (9th)
Employee Development – Kelley Chase, Grace Whipple (10th)
Landscape Lighting – Cailyn Kerner (10th)
3D Exterior Landscape Design – Sydney Bess (11th)
Interior Plant ID – Megan Kieda (11th)
Robotics & Technology in the Landscape – Cailyn Kerner (14th)
Sales Presentation – Grace Whipple (14th)

Among the 727 students competing, Nate Hawks placed 3rd overall, and was recognized with an NCLC Superstar Trophy and $1000 scholarship. The following students were awarded scholarships from the NALP Foundation: Sydney Bess ($1000 from the Lambert Landscape Company Scholarship), Tyler Bigos ($2000 from the Thomas Fochtman Family Scholarship), Kelley Chase ($1000 from the Hunt Family Scholarship), Larisa Draaisma ($1000 from the Cynthia L. Peterson Gals in Green Scholarship), Nate Hawks ($1000 from the Grunder Landscaping Co./Grow Group Scholarship), Jeff Laing ($2000 from the Landscape Partners and David Minor Scholarship), Aidan Riley ($1000 from the Bruce Company Scholarship), and Emily Schneider ($1000 from the David J. Frank Landscape Contracting Career Builder Scholarship).

Next year’s competition will be hosted at our very own Michigan State University! It will be NCLC’s 50th anniversary, which is very fitting for MSU to host since we were one of the three programs involved in creating the event many years ago. Please mark your calendars for March 17-21, 2026 to come check out this amazing event. If you would like to be added to the volunteer list to help us make NCLC a success, please email Steven Peterson, our Volunteer Coordinator, at pete1504@msu.edu. Steven also joined us on the adventure in Colorado to gain awareness in preparation for hosting NCLC at MSU next year.

Last but not least, we would like to acknowledge our sponsors. Team members worked diligently all year raising money to finance the trip. Some of the funds were generated from the SHA Spring Show and Plant Sale that was held in April 2024, but the majority this year came as direct financial support from industry. THANK YOU to the following sponsors for their absolutely amazing support in donations totaling nearly $24,000! Our team had expenses just under $32,000 to attend the NCLC event this year.

Platinum Sponsors ($1000 or more):