Playing with the Big Dogs and winning

North Metro Technical College hosted the top horticulture students from sixty-six colleges and universities around the country during the 32nd annual PLANET Student Career Days, March 26th- March 30th, 2008.

This is a record breaking event for the Professional Landcare Network which included nine hundred sixty two students in twenty-five competitive events.

NMTC took first place overall followed by:

2. Brigham Young University – Provo

3. Brigham Young University – Idaho

4. Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo

5. Cal Poly – Pomona

6. North Carolina State University

7. Penn State

8. Mississippi State University

9. Michigan State University

10. Columbus State Community College

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19. University of Florida

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22. University of Georgia

North Metro Tech student, Matthew Early, scored the greatest combined individual total winning the title of Superstar!

Ken Kwait of the University of Illinois placed second and Ken Beasley of Hinds Community College took third place.

To be eligible for this title these students competed in five different events.

With as many as 112 students entered in each event we are proud to announce that North Metro Technical College Students placed as follows in their events:

Annual and Perennial ID: Emily Schmidt – 5th, Cassie Templeton – 29th

Arboriculture Techniques: Monty Clark and Brian Watters – 29th

Business Management: Joel Corn – 8th, Lisa McKinney – 11th

Compact Utility Loader Operation: Matthew Early – 1st

Computer Aided Design: Alejandro Simmonds – 2nd

Construction Cost Estimating: Bill Lovelace – 44th

Exterior Landscape Design: Rob Moon – 9th

Interior Landscape Design: Heather Householder-Jones – 21st

Interior Plant ID: Emily Schmidt – 9th

Irrigation Assembly: Matthew Early and Tim Peterson – 2nd

Irrigation Design: Matthew Early – 2nd

Irrigation Troubleshooting: Matthew Early – 5th

Landscape Maintenance Operations: Kyle Harmon and Tim Peterson – 8th

Landscape Plant Installation: Chris Early, Matthew Early and Stephen Hudson – 1st

Leadership Skills: Joel Corn - 2nd, Shon Cameron – 43rd

Maintenance Cost Estimating: Scott Edwards – 1st, Chris Early – 9th

Paver Installation: Kyle Harmon and Kevin Porter – 31st

Pest Management: Vickie Bagby – 1st

Safety Management: Shon Cameron – 32nd

Sales Presentation: Brian Watters – 17th

Skid Steer Operation: Kevin Porter – 4th

Truck & Trailer Operation: Jason Caithaml and Kyle Harmon – 28th

Turf and Turf Pest Identification: Vickie Bagby - 15th

Wood Construction: Kevin Porter and Brian Watters – 23rd

Woody Ornamental Plant Identification – Jessica Logan – 2nd