The American Floral Endowment ( AFE ) has award 15 educatee with scholarships totaling $ 42,300 . Seventy - four applications were received for this 2019 scholarship cycles/second .
" We had many undischarged students utilise for scholarships this twelvemonth , which is why some scholarships were award to two recipient role , " said Greg Royer , AFE Education Committee Chair .
" I ’m excited to see the high quality of bookman each twelvemonth and the AFE Board is pleased that AFE is capable to grant financial assistance to these well - deserve bookman to aid them proceed their education and become passionate industry leaders . "
AFE awards scholarships annually and applications are due by May 1 of each year .
Scholarship descriptions are useable atendowment.org/scholarships .
American Florists ' Exchange Scholarship — $ 2,400Vocational ( Bettinger , Holden and Perry ) Scholarship – $ 1,500Recipient : Armando DeLoera – City College of San Francisco
A senior in floriculture , DeLoera is majoring in floristry with a minor in selling . For the past two old age , he has freelance at Saks Fifth Avenue , where he works on window display and creates seasonal floral design . He hope his field in byplay will aid him to build a successful flowered occupation , promoting eco - friendly growing and sustainable drill while serve individuals and communities interested in the flowered and environmental industry . “ I will put my knowledge , expertness , and carry on breeding to utilise by starting a movement to educate and inform the world-wide populace about the welfare , values , and qualities of eco - flowered designs . This includes implementing reduce , reuse , recycle , and repurpose values , ” said DeLoera .
The Original Los Angeles Flower Market was instal in 1921 and is now part of the largest wholesale blossom territory in the U.S. Scholarship recipients are junior or senior with a GPA of 3.0 or high , major in agriculture with an accent on a futurity in floriculture . The American Florists ' Exchange Scholarship ply tuition aid to students advert a college or university in California or students of California attending a college or university in other area of the U.S.
The Vocational ( Bettinger , Holden and Perry ) Scholarship requires students to be in a one or two - year program with the spirit to become a grower or greenhouse manager . The Vocational Scholarship honors Leonard Bettinger , who was a successful greenhouse grower in the Bettinger Farms mob business in Toledo , Ohio , and was President of BPI from 1974 - 76 ; John Holden , who had a farseeing , helpful career at Ball Seed Company and was fighting in BPI since its inception , attending the very first " pre - BPI " conference in 1968 ; and Jim Perry , who was a well-thought-of wholesale nurseryman and grew Perry ’s Plants of La Puente , Calif. into one of the largest bedding works operations in the U.S. and was President of BPI from 1972 - 74 .
Julio and Sarah Armellini Scholarship — $ 2,200Recipient : Abigail Keairns – Murray State University
Seeking a degree in Agriculture Science – Horticulture , Keairns would wish to eventually own and carry a glasshouse and landscape gardening operation . She has manage her own lawn and landscaping line since 2012 . This summertime she is a gardening / agriculture and born imagination interne with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service . She has volunteered for several long time at Field Elementary in Louisville where she teaches students about where food comes from through horticulture projects . “ I devote my seek to not just fine-tune with a academic degree but deal every opportunity to get as well - rounded of an educational activity as potential , ” tell Keairns . “ This make me better able to reach my life history goal of own and operating a nursery / nursery performance with potential landscape painting design . ”
Julio " Toots " Armellini is founder of Armellini Express Lines , the expectant flower carrier armed service in the U.S. Armellini enlisted in the Navy as a " Seabee " and was stationed all around the globe as a auto-mechanic . He used skills he gained as a mechanic to modernize refrigerate trucking . When he began expanding his lines in the early 1950s , refrigeration was new and underdeveloped , so he established a more in force way of cooling his supplies using a system of constant air flow . ThermoKing eventually made his contributions to infrigidation systems standard . Today , Armellini has almost 70 years of experience in the industry , and Armellini Industries , Inc. encompasses many business concern : Armellini Express Lines , Inc. , J.A. Flower Service , Inc. , Fresco Service , Inc. and NorthStar Transportation , Inc. The Julio and Sarah Armellini Scholarship is intended for sophomore , next-to-last or senior pupil with a career interest group in the marketing or distribution of flowered products .
Ball Horticultural Company Scholarship — $ 1,100Edward Tuinier Memorial Scholarship — $ 4,600Recipient : Caleb Spall , Michigan State University
A senior majoring in horticulture with a minor in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems , Spall is interested in the role of top lighting fixtures in floriculture . “ By integrating LED lighting fixtures in flower gardening rather than the traditional HPS lamp systems , a tremendous amount of vitality – typically lose as warmth from HPS lamp – can be saved , ” explain Spall . In plus to his involvement in student horticulture radical , Spall has influence this year as a raiser at the Michigan Horticulture Education Foundation , horticulturist at MSU AgBioResearch , and researcher at MSU Floriculture .
Ball Horticultural Company is a top international stock breeder , producer , and wholesale electrical distributor of floriculture product . glob land the rootage of colouring material , foliage , yield , and mould to professional cultivator around the world for the retail and landscape painting markets . The Ball Horticultural Company Scholarship is mean for junior or older students pursuing a career in commercial flower gardening .
Owner of Post Gardens , Ed Tuinier loved the glasshouse commercial enterprise , work up his firm to one of the top 50 U.S. company and inspiring his children , all of whom put to work in one of the two Post Gardens location . A grad of MSU , Tuinier was a major benefactor of the MSU horticulture computer program and demonstration garden . The Edward Tuinier Memorial Scholarship is awarded to sophomore , junior or fourth-year undergraduate scholar enroll in the floriculture plan at MSU .
Harold Bettinger Scholarship — $ 2,000Recipient : Rhiannon Newton , West Virginia University
Newton is record her senior year completing her agrarian science point with a John Roy Major in gardening and a small-scale in entrepreneurship . She hop to be a greenhouse cultivator after commencement and would like to eventually own a business . “ I have love plant ever since I was a kid . In fact , I used to bear around a potato instead of the usual blanket or stuffed toy . So , it was no surprisal when I decide to major in horticulture , ” articulate Newton . At West Virginia University ( WVU ) she fill out an independent study , growing all of the bedding annuals for the WVU campus from chaw to maturity in the campus greenhouse . This twelvemonth she is study abroad in Vienna , Austria .
Harold Bettinger was a partner in Bettinger Farms of Swanton , Ohio . In the mid-’50s , he was one of the first progressive growers to commute his bedding plant production from wooden to formative flat . Bettinger Farms now grow greenhouse and field vegetable . The Harold Bettinger Scholarship is intended for horticulture scholarly person , soph through graduate grade , who have a major or underage in business and/or marketing with the intent to enforce their education to a horticulture - related vocation . BioWorks IPM / Sustainable Practices Scholarship — $ 1,200Recipient : Sage Drohan , Orange Coast College
Drohan is a junior majoring in Landscape Architecture at Orange Coast College , where she focuses on sustainable design and gardening . Since 2016 Drohan has own Sage Succulents and Cacti . “ I want to expand my company by providing drought - tolerant landscape gardening services to both residential and commercial client , ” said Drohan . She has a big end trace graduation , fall in the Peace Corps . “ As a Peace Corps volunteer , it would be my goal to train others about the importance , authorization , and wealth associate with sustainably responsible horticulture and landscaping practice session . ”
The BioWorks IPM / Sustainable Practices Scholarship is intended for sophomore , junior , or older students pursue a vocation in floriculture . Students are selected on the foundation of profound donnish performance and a GPA of 3.0 or high .
James Bridenbaugh Memorial Scholarship — $ 500Mike and Flo Novovesky Scholarship — $ 2,700Recipient : Alexis Ramstine , Colorado State UniversityAlexis Ramstine is a next-to-last majoring in gardening job direction with a nidus on ornamental industrial plant , fresh cut flower product , and gardening as an instrument of public health . For the last few class , Ramstine has been employed full - time at Longmont Florist in Longmont , Colorado . “ After graduation , I hope to carry on to work out in design or a nursery setting while donating time to residential district gardens and the refurbishment of trails in the Rocky Mountains , ” say Ramstine . “ I really want to see more hands in the dirt , more people planting and enjoy the natural world . Public garden spaces , parks , and recreation areas are the warmheartedness of our society . I hope to see more people passionate about such space . ”
Jim Bridenbaugh was a specialist in unused flowers and plants , designing and commentate at design shows and seminars . His floral industry noesis , comedic storytelling , and hearing resonance made him a favorite . He serve as President of OFA from 1989 to 1991 . The James Bridenbaugh Memorial Scholarship is for sophomore , junior or aged students who are quest after a career in flowered purpose and marketing of fresh flower and plants .
Mike and Flo Novovesky have enjoy more than 30 years of active involution in the floriculture diligence . The Novoveskys understand the hardship a young yoke must overcome when balancing a career and a family . The Mike and Flo Novovesky Scholarship fund aims to help unseasoned married students who are working to put themselves through college and have a GPA of 2.5 or high . Depending on the availability of married applicants , the encyclopaedism may also go to an undergraduate working his or her mode through schooling with financial pauperism and family obligations . The keys are a potent sake in gardening and financial need .
CalFlowers Scholarship — $ 5,800Recipient : Helene Dondero , California Polytechnic State University , San Luis Obispo
A elderly majoring in farming skill with an vehemence in decorative gardening and a minor in agricultural business , Dondero grew up in the flowered industry . In addition to working in her category ’s business , Fiore Floral and Gifts , Dondero is participating in numerous student and diligence organizations with CalPoly and FFA . She plans to fall to complete a master ’s degree in agrarian science . “ My goal is to be an farming science instructor and FFA Advisor . I will be able to share my overall oecumenical knowledge of agriculture with my students , plus knowledge from my script - on experience working in floral , wholesale , and growing operations , ” said Dondero . “ I powerfully feel that from this hands - on experience – and relationships I have build in the industry – I have a expectant savvy to the vastness of the horticulture industry , and I seem forward to sharing that with my bookman . ”
The California Association of Flower Growers & Shippers ( CalFlowers ) was founded in 1941 by a small mathematical group of prime shipping companies to foster the success of the California flowered diligence . Today , CalFlowers is the leading flowered barter affiliation in California serve growers and the entire supply chain in the body politic and in 47 state across the U.S. The CalFlowers Scholarship is for undergraduate students give ear an accredited California college or university or an undergraduate California resident attending an accredited college or university elsewhere in the U.S.
John Carew Memorial Scholarship — $ 2,000Recipient : Mary Lewis , University of Georgia
Mary Lewis expects to complete her master ’s degree programme in gardening in December 2019 . Her focal point is on ornamental industrial plant breeding , specifically eight native Asclepias metal money . “ I have come to my specialty a little later than some , but having worked from landscaping to public horticulture , commercial greenhouse output to garden center care , I can see and appreciate how the unlike facets of this industriousness fit together , ” explicate Lewis . She hop her many internship and inquiry experiences , include time with Ball Horticulture Company and Disney World , along with a various track docket will allow her to better read the need of different consumers .
John Carew , former head of the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University , dedicated his life history to encouraging and steer young horticulturists . He was subservient in establishing Bedding Plant International ( BPI ) in 1969 . The John Carew Memorial Scholarship is exposed to graduate scholarly person in horticulture with an interest in greenhouse crops . Earl Dedman Memorial Scholarship — $ 2,000National Greenhouse Manufacturers Association ( NGMA ) Scholarship — $ 500Recipient : Gergely Motolai , Kansas State UniversityGergely Motolai is a senior majoring in horticulture science and minoring in entomology . His focal point is on in nursery yield and entomology . Motolai is cultivate at Bird ’s botanical and at the Kansas State University Greenhouses . “ I am interested in inquiry and teaching . My main goal would be to work at a University and teach the next generation of horticulturists , conducting research that would help the horticulture manufacture as a whole , ” said Motolai .
Earl Dedman possess and operated Mountainview Greenhouses in Woodinville , Wash. , and was a former Chief Executive of BPFI . In addition to his engagement with BPFI and BPI , he was involved with the Montana State Flower Growers , the Puget Sound Flower Growers and the Washington Floricultural Association . develop in rural Montana in a one - room schoolhouse , Dedman had a strong commitment to pedagogy . He conceive training and hard work to be the cay to success in animation . The Earl Dedman Scholarship is awarded to next-to-last or older students maintaining a minimal 3.0 GPA who are interested in becoming greenhouse growers .
NGMA is a professional trade organization for the manufacturers and suppliers of greenhouse and glasshouse components build up to computer code project for a cultivator ’s needs . The NGMA learning aim scholarly person majoring in gardening and biotechnology or the equivalent and are at least a junior at an licenced four - twelvemonth college maintaining a 3.0 GPA .
Long Island Flower Growers Association ( LIFGA ) Scholarship — $ 1,400Long Island Flower Growers Association Bob Gunther Scholarship – $ 1,000Recipient : Cassandra Castano , Farmingdale State College
A senior in landscape painting growing at Farmingdale State College majoring in horticulture technology management , Cassandra Castano is planning further instruction to become a landscape designer , working on urban task . “ My calling goal is to become a landscape architect and design for community , whether it be through parkland , garden , residential , or commercial landscape . I plan to gain study experience and take extra courses to strengthen my knowledge of plants , garden style , sustainability , and modern practices , ” said Castano .
The LIFGA Scholarship was established in 2010 . LIFGA members represent growers and retailers promoting research , training and sale of ornamentals in the local market . The scholarship is intended for students in the Long Island / New York region learn cosmetic horticulture at a biotic community college or a four - year institution .
The Long Island Flower Growers Association Bob Gunther Scholarship was established in memory of the belated Bob Gunther , proprietor of Gunther ’s Greenhouses & Florist in Oceanside , New York . It is intended for educatee from Long Island and New York who are studying decorative gardening at a community college or four - year institution in New York . This includes floriculture , landscape sustenance , landscape designing , sod and any other courses of field bear on to decorative horticulture . One bookman will be award this encyclopedism annually .
Richard T. Meister Scholarship — $ 4,000Recipient : Emily Teng , University of Hawaii at Manoa
Teng is obtaining her Ph.D. in tropical plant and soil science , and design on working in floriculture production and variety advance research . In her dissertation enquiry she is analyze the pigment in poinsettia bract . Since estrus delay is a major obstruction for poinsettia growers in warm climates , her research rivet on the effects of hotness delay in poinsettias on anthocyanin production in the bracts . She wants her work to connect scientific research with practical industry applications in either denotation work or in floriculture yield . " I would like to prevail a position at a university as an educator and decoct on research improving ornamental production , " say Teng .
Dick Meister build a family business organization in release for specialised raiser in commercial horticulture . He is a strong supporter of the commonwealth - grant college system and through the years worked closely with many horticultural and floricultural drawing card . This scholarship is dedicated to the outstanding acquisition of those in university extension . The Richard T. Meister Scholarship is open to calibrate student in floriculture designate to pursue their career in the commonwealth - Duncan James Corrow Grant university system with interest in inquiry , extension or teaching . Lawrence " Bud " Ohlman Memorial Scholarship — $ 2,500Recipient : Krishna Bhattarai , University of Florida
Krishna Bhattarai expects to dispatch his Ph.D. in environmental gardening in December 2019 . His focus is on develop resistor to powdery mildew in genus Gerbera daisy and impatiens . Bhattarai hopes to become a industrial plant breeder and develop new cultivars with novel horticultural traits and enhanced disease resistance that is desire by consumer and floriculture industry . “ Plant breeding is my passion and primary interest . My goal is to become a plant breeder and develop Modern cultivar using conventional breeding , marking assisted breeding and biotechnology . As an ornamental stock breeder , I want to produce new cold shoulder flowers , landscape painting and garden cultivar with better floriculture and/or heighten disease resistance traits . I go for to contribute to the diligence by develop plants that are change ecology , friendly and perform well in minimum resource and challenging environment , ” said Bhattarai .
Bud Ohlman was a hands - on grower in his family business concern , expanding the truck gardening operation to include glasshouse , bedding plant and flowering annual production . He coach expanding upon undertaking even into his 70s . His study ethic was second to none , urge by God , his family and the diligence . The Lawrence " Bud " Ohlman Memorial Scholarship goes to students with the life history goal to become a bedding plant agriculturist for an established business .
Seed Companies Scholarship — $ 2,500Recipient : Erin Pfarr , Rutgers University
Erin Pfarr is completing her Ph.D. in flora biology with an accent in plant breeding and genomics at Rutgers University . Her dissertation work is focused on big - bracted cornel genetics and breeding . After having bring on several inquiry project during her undergraduate and graduate study , she is particularly interested in breeding for disease and louse impedance , drought tolerance , moth-eaten permissiveness , noninvasiveness , novel flowering trait such as repeat blossom , and edible ornamental plants . “ I would like to work as a private sector ornamental works breeder develop beautiful and functional ornamental plants , ” said Pfarr .
John L. Tomasovic Sr . Scholarship — $ 1,200Recipient : Keslie Robbins , Mississippi State University
A junior at Mississippi State University , Keslie Robbins major league in horticulture with a focus in decorative horticulture . Robbins works at Happy Trails Flower Farm and Twigs Nursery and Landscaping . “ I design to open a nursery byplay , where I will sell a large miscellany of plants , garden tool , and supply , as well as cut peak and gifts . I go for to raise my own plant organically and sustainably , ” say Jerome Robbins .
Past president of BPFI John Tomasovic has raise his family business , John L. Tomasovic , Sr . Florist Inc. , in St. Louis , Mo. , which include a nursery from the 1904 St. Louis World ’s Fair . They produce geranium , pot mammy , hardy mums , bedding plants , ground covers , poinsettias , Easter lily , incandescent lamp crops , and foliage , persuade on the business his father began in 1931 . The John L. Tomasovic Sr . Scholarship offers particular consideration for sophomore , third-year or senior undergraduate students with fiscal need and GPA between 3.0 and 3.5.Jacob and Rita Van Namen Marketing Scholarship — $ 1,200Recipient : Kelly Pohlman , University of KentuckyA sophomore majoring in horticulture , plant and dirt science and minoring in agricultural economics , Pohlman is interested in a career path in floriculture merchandising . She was a 4 - H member as a young child and this past semester she studied afield in Argentina . “ From my time in 4 - enthalpy , raising and enter works in the county carnival , I have been devoted to horticulture . My degree in horticulture will enable me to have a career in the merchandising diligence for blossom and plant , ” tell Pohlman . “ I have found that I am particularly interested in native species of plant . In Kentucky , I have seen at first hand the effects that alien specie can have on our habitats . Problems could have been forestall , as for many strange specie there are native alternatives for the garden . I want to help hoi polloi realize that native plants are not only perfectly adapted to their ground and clime , but they require virtually no fertilizers and aid with pollinator habitat . ”
The Jacob and Rita Van Namen Marketing Scholarship was established in January 1997 and was discover for Jacob Van Namen , a honest enterpriser who build a multimillion - dollar sign business in wholesale floriculture , and his wife Rita . This scholarship is destine to grow lettered , originative somebody who will improve the floriculture industry . The learning requires student to have a career interest group in factory farm selling and dispersion of floral products and be a soph , junior , or elderly .
