In this series, learn more about the 25 recipients of the Irrigation Association’s 2022 E3 program, sponsored by The Toro Company and the Carolinas Irrigation Association, awarded to college students studying and pursuing careers in the irrigation field.The Irrigation Association created the E3 program to focus on providing irrigation students (E3 learners) and faculty members (E3 leaders) with exposure, experience and education that revolves around the irrigation industry. The program shows that the “three e’s” are the best way to actively engage the next generation of irrigators.
The sponsorships include an education and travel award to attend the 2022 Irrigation Show and Education Week Dec. 5-9 in Las Vegas.
Marisa Trehy
Undergraduate student at Prairie View A&M University
Expected graduation date: 6/01/24
How and why did you get involved in turf/landscape?
I love growing plants and food for my family. In becoming an effective grower I had to research landscaping and irrigation.
What experience do you have in the turf/landscape industry?
Currently my only experience is as a consumer, although in my college agriculture classes I am learning a great deal about the industry and hope to one day work in the industry.
What is a personal accomplishment within the turf/landscape industry that you’re proud of?
I am proud of my garden and installing irrigation in it to help it grow beautifully.
What kind of career in turf/landscape are you working toward?
I would love to work on the conservation side of the field especially in development of products for regions where water scarcity is a problem and water must be managed effectively and efficiently. I would also like to work to increase soil retention and drought-friendly turf.
What does smart irrigation mean to you?
Smart irrigation means delivering water and water soluble fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicides efficiently to turf/landscaping in order to best meet the needs for my future clients. Smart irrigation is water conservation in action! Water is a force of nature and a scarce resource. Controlling its power opens the door for success in creating a more beautiful and healthy tomorrow. Smart irrigation harnesses the power of water and enables us to control and conserve its benefits!
What advancements in the turf/landscape industry are most exciting to you and why?
The ability to use drones to diagnose crop problems is fascinating! Using these drones farmers can pinpoint diseases or dry spots and deliver directed care to those areas without having to walk many acres. These types of advances are very exciting to me! Cloud-based sprinkler systems that are able to water plants whenever the weather indicates it is needed are revolutionary and conserve water. It seems like every day there is a new advancement that blows my mind, I am beyond excited to work within this industry!
Nancy Hoover
Undergraduate student at Central Piedmont Community College
Expected graduation date: 5/18/23
How and why did you get involved in turf/landscape?
My grandfather had a lovely garden that enthralled me as a child, and my parent’s house had peony, hydrangea and lilac shrubs that I adored, so aesthetically-pleasing landscaping had been an interest, though not a passion. Over the years I learned more and more about plants from books, friends, garden center advice and personal experience. They were a respite, a sort of eye and soul therapy with their beautiful colors, shapes and scents.
After years in corporate management positions and a few pivotal life events, I wanted and needed a big change: it was time for a career where I felt I was doing more of a service to my fellow man and the world in which we live. It was (and is) a core value of mine to educate, explain, and coach those that reported to me at work, and my managers and customers have sung my praises for it. I had heard about the master gardener program, and a dear friend gave me the nudge I needed to look further into it.
The extension agent for Mecklenburg County, Steven Capabianco, was so knowledgeable and supportive of the program, I knew I was headed in the right direction. Our first instructor was Paula Gross, and you can’t take a class of Paula’s and resist the allure of the plant world. I was hooked.
What experience do you have in the turf/landscape industry?
My industry experience ranges from retail sales, nursery management, estate gardening, Horticulture school projects, native plant studies through UNCC, to being a certified master gardener through the North Carolina master gardener program, and in teaching HOAs, garden clubs and visitors to the garden center about native plants, pruning and pollinators, especially Monarch butterflies.
What is a personal accomplishment within the turf/landscape industry that you’re proud of?
I would say I am most proud of planning, installing and planting a Community Conservation Assistance Program-certified rain garden, redirecting 1,500 gallons of rooftop rainwater into it instead of onto impervious surfaces and into a nearby stream.
With the help of the incredible folks from the Forsyth County Soil and Conservation department, I learned my new home’s roof put out 1,500 gallons of water in the average rainstorm. From the resources they shared, I learned how to harvest rainwater and what a native plant was and its importance to our ecology and wildlife. I also learned about rainwater mitigation and designed and installed my own CCAP-certified rain garden filled with native plants. And with that, two new keen interests relative to the plant world were discovered.
What kind of career in turf/landscape are you working toward?
When I learned of the concept of horticultural therapy several years ago, I was intrigued and it was really the catalyst behind my pursuing horticulture studies. After taking my first class, arboriculture, I considered that specialty. All the while, though, water has been in the background. It is a most precious resource and it is such an integral element of plant and animal life. Protecting man, beast and our earth is paramount. Working in collaboration with homeowners, landscape designers and businesses to conserve water and find ways to utilize alternative water sources is what I am working toward.
What does smart irrigation mean to you?
There is the technical “smart irrigation” that utilizes smart technology in managing the irrigation systems, utilizing sensors and weather forecasting to apply water when and where it is needed, saving precious water resources by 20-40%, to quote from the Irrigation Association website. And if you are a homeowner that pays for your water, this is an especially wise investment, saving time, stress and money spent on water and plant material.
There’s smart irrigation that incorporates smart, water-wise cultural practices, like planting plants native to your region as they thrive in a given region’s soil and weather conditions. There are practices like rainwater harvesting with rain barrels, utilizing rain gardens to mitigate excess stormwater runoff or using drip irrigation to water garden beds vs. emitters meant for turf irrigation. Whichever smart irrigation definition one chooses to use, it is the best way to irrigate.
What advancements in the turf/landscape industry are most exciting to you and why?
Whether you would call it advancements or improvements, improvements made in efficient watering that do not contribute to our carbon footprint and have no harmful effect on people, animals and the environment.
Read more about the IA’s E3 program.
