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The team at Brimingham Botanical Gardens. Photo provided by Scott Douglas.

National Collegiate Landscape Competition Team finishes in Top 10 at national competition

The Virginia Tech National Collegiate Landscape Competition Team placed 10th at this year’s contest.

The National Collegiate Landscape Competition is a conference and career fair for students, allowing them to meet industry professionals and interview for internships and careers.

The centerpiece of the conference is a 31-event student competition where they compete in events including interior, exterior, and 3D landscape design, robotics and technology, tractor loader backhoe operation, and construction cost estimating.

Lawn maintenance operations event.

The team had several individual events with top 10 finishes, including:

  • Trevor Hunter, Connor Osborne, and Makenzie Shifflett finished fourth in landscape plant installation; 
  • Chase Mallory was fifth in compact excavator operation;
  • Tyler Croson and Wyatt Wade were fifth in irrigation troubleshooting;
  • Hannah Chambers was sixth in interior landscape design; 
  • Sylar McDade was seventh in plant problem diagnosis;
  • Theodore Testa was ninth in turf and weed identification, and;
  • Ava Lambert was tenth in annual and perennial identification.

As part of the event, scholarships are awarded to participants. This year, six students won a total of $8,000. 

This year, 529 students from 46 colleges and universities took part. The event was hosted by Mississippi State University in Starkville.

Mini track loader event at the NCLC.
Team members competing at the NCLC. Photo by Scott Douglas.