INDUSTRY EDUCATION student individually to try to find the best fit for them for which direction they think they want to go . Those 400 hours give them an opportunity to know exactly what they ’ re getting into .”
STC students have interned with Major League Baseball , NFL and Minor League Baseball organizations , as well as a wide range of state and local organizations .
Most of the 40 students in STC ’ s Horticulture program are from South Dakota , but some come from bordering states , and there are opportunities for on-campus housing . According to Borgen , the Sports Turf Management curriculum focuses on hands-on learning .
“ We have an on-campus turf lab that consists of a home plate area , a pitching mound and a par-3 golf hole ,” he said . “ In our shop we ’ re set up with up-to-date equipment to help the students do labs on site .”
During their first semester , students take an Introduction to Turfgrass course , a Horticulture class , Equipment Operation Maintenance and Pest Management . First-year students do an Establishment and Seeding lab , then transition into fall fertilization , aerification and preparing the turf for winter .
According to Borgen , STC students participate in local and national turf conferences including the SFMA Conference and the GCSAA Conference .
Students also experience field visits to places such as Target Field in Minnesota , the College World Series and various golf courses .
Borgen — now in his twentieth year at Southeast Technical College — added that STC ’ s Sports Turf Management program has had 100-percent job placement during each of the past five years . Graduates are pretty evenly split with approximately one third pursuing sports field management careers , one third entering the golf industry and one third going into landscaping . Some STC students go on to pursue their 4-year degrees .
“ The great thing is that I have more than 200 graduates in the field , and they come back to me looking for employees or interns ,” he said .
According to Borgen , attracting new students is a challenge faced throughout the industry .
STC students get involved in the community with ballfield renovations , which raises the visibility of the program . STC also hosts career camps and attends high school career fairs . Creating relationships with FFA instructors and getting students to tour campus also helps raise awareness of the program .
“ It ’ s mostly letting people know that this is a career option ,” said Borgen . “ It ’ s amazing how people wish they knew that sports field management was an option .” SFM
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