SCIENCE
“ This competition is being titled as an invitational , as a pilot , for it to be then proposed to National FFA for consideration to become a Career Development Event ,” Letot added . “ If it gets approved , it ’ ll join the portfolio of National CDEs . So the goal is that the ‘ invitational ’ moniker lasts a year , and after that it will be known as the National Turfgrass Science CDE .”
Letot also credited Geoff Rinehart and Chase Straw , Ph . D ., as well as SFMA Education Manager Jennifer McLendon with communication and organization of the event — especially with university faculty and industry associations .
According to Letot , the unique aspect of this competition is that it involves both the golf course management and sports field management industries . “ Given that a lot of these students are looking at jobs in the golf course industry , it made sense to start out with golf courses and GCSAA as that host ,” he said . “ But SFMA is going to make a tremendous host because their arena is something that is on the doorstep of every high WorldClass-SportsField-Final school in the United States . pdf 1 . So 11 we / 20 ’/ ve 24 3:45 PM decided to have this alternate back and forth each year between the SFMA and GCSAA national conferences .”
According to Letot , having a national competition will hopefully have a trickle-down effect in future years that will foster more state competitions that are able to adopt the same competition model and resources . “ Our goal is that we get most every state where turfgrass science is a viable industry hosting a state competition to send their winners on to national ,” he said .
For the inaugural invitational , there are currently 12 teams of four registered to compete . Teachers will get to take classes while their students are competing ; and on the following day the students and the teachers will be provided with continuing professional development before an award ceremony .
There are three things Letot would like to accomplish with the inaugural event .
“ First is that the kids have fun ,” he said . “ And I ’ m not saying that just to be cliche . I have witnessed this competition at the state level and I have witnessed other FFA events and career development events . We
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