Horticulture Scholarships Now More Important Than Ever
May 23, 2020 
Even during a time of uncertainty in the greenhouse market, there will always be a need to foster and develop the next generation of industry leaders. After all, the horticulture students, graduate assistants, and interns of today are going to be the ones leading the controlled-environment market in the future.
Scholarships are a great way to make this happen, and there have been a couple recent developments in this area. First comes news from Seed Your Future, which has launched a new online Horticulture Scholarships Search Tool to help students find scholarships to support their education and training in horticulture. This is the latest resource from Seed Your Future, a coalition of more than 200 industry partners united in their mission to promote horticulture and careers working with plants.
Finding enough qualified candidates for open positions is the No. 1 issue of concern for employers across the horticulture industry, according to research conducted by Seed Your Future. For students, a top concern is how they will pay for their education and training. Connecting students with employers and organizations that provide financial support for education is a priority for Seed Your Future.
“In today’s uncertain economic climate, families are searching for financial support to help their kids pursue education and training — that’s what makes the Seed Your Future Horticulture Scholarship Search Tool such an important resource,“ says Charlie Hall, Ph.D., of Texas A&M University and Co-chair of the Seed Your Future Advisory Council. “The resource is comprehensive across the diversity of careers working with plants, so it’s a great centralized clearinghouse of this type of information. It’s going to save students and parents a lot of time and energy in trying to determine what is available to help fund their education.”
The online tool is unique both in its inclusion of scholarships across the art, science, technology, and business of plant-based studies, and in the two ways for site visitors to search for financial support — by area of study, or by sponsoring organization. Learn more here.
Horticultural Research Institute Scholarships Available
In related news, the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) is accepting scholarship applications for the 2020-2021 school year.
These scholarships are made possible by seven HRI endowment funds that aid students who are seeking a lifelong career in horticulture. HRI and its donor firms consider graduating students in horticulture to be the lifeblood of the green industry.
HRI is offering the following scholarships (applications due Sept. 10, 2020):
- The Timothy S. and Palmer W. Bigelow Jr. Scholarship
- The Usrey Family Scholarship
- The Bryan A. Champion Memorial Scholarship
- The Susie & Bruce Usrey Scholarship
- The Spring Meadow Scholarship
- The “Mugget” Scholarship
- The Carville M. Akehurst Memorial Scholarship
Applications must be completed using HRI’s online application form. For more details, go to hriresearch.org.
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