Michael Del Valle
The American Floral Endowment has awarded four students with 2016 Vic & Margaret Ball Internships. The students will receive scholarships after successfully completing their internships.
The Vic & Margaret Ball Internship Program gives students the opportunity to train for three, four or six-month periods at a commercial production greenhouse or nursery while gaining practical floriculture/horticulture experience. In 1992, Vic and Margaret Ball made a generous donation to AFE to establish this program to help ensure successful future generations of horticulture professionals.
Recipients are:
- Michael Del Valle Jr.— six months at The Sun Valley Group in Arcata, Calif., $6,000 scholarship. Del Valle, Jr. is majoring in horticulture at the University of Georgia and wants experience to help him attain a career in growing and nurturing flowers and foliage plants.
- Maria Fox — four months at Green Circle Growers in Oberlin, Ohio, $4,000 scholarship. A junior horticulture student at Iowa State University, Fox hopes to become a grower in a commercial
Emily Guild
greenhouse in the future and possibly have her own greenhouse.
- Emily Guild — three months at Smith Gardens in Aurora, Ore., $1,500 scholarship. Guild is a junior at the University of Idaho, with a major in Sustainable Crop and Landscape Management, and is interested in learning more about the day-to-day operations of floral greenhouses.
- Curtis Partain — six months, $6,000 scholarship (placement TBD). A Kansas State University student majoring in horticulture, Partain has had a passion for plants since he was a child and hopes to own and operate a greenhouse production facility in the future.
The next deadline for students to submit applications and supporting materials is October 1. Learn more at endowment.org/internships.
