UMD team members pose with their first place trophy. From left to right sitting: Ryan Higgins and Justin Patenaude. Left to right standing: Scott Hosier and Matt Park
A group of students from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources took home the gold medal in the Sports Turf Managers Association’s (STMA) Student Challenge held January 14 – 18 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Representing the mighty Terrapins were three students from the Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA) -- Scott Hosier, Matt Park, Justin Patenaude—and Ryan Higgins from the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA).
The national competition hosted 34 teams from schools across the country and tested students in various areas relating to sports field maintenance from turf grass weed, insect, and disease identification to field safety issues such as field hardness, traction, and overall playability issues. This marks the third year the IAA prepared a team for the STMA challenge. “Each year that we have competed in this event, we have moved from third to first place and the students in this year’s competition had the gold medal as their goal and showed their excitement during the awards ceremony,” said IAA instructor Dr. Kevin Mathias, who coached the team along with Alex Steinman.
As the winner of the Student Challenge within the 4 year division, the IAA will be awarded $4,000 to enhance lab activities in sports turf management.
Learn more about the IAA, by clicking here.
