Canada's hort pros get their green thumbs at Kwantlen
At the Kwantlen campus, students are being trained for careers in horticulture - as landscapers, designers, turf managers for golf courses, pest control specialists, greenhouse production workers and plant experts.
Some graduates have gone on to start their own successful landscaping firms. Others have become superintendents at golf courses, overseeing the professional maintenance of the turf, trees and shrub areas.
At the school , courses fall into three main categories - diploma courses, apprenticeship training and citations.
The most popular is the two year horticulture diploma course, which offers three areas of specialization - landscape design and installation, greenhouse and nursery production and turf management.
Graduates have the option to continue their studies by doing a degree in horticulture science, which has a strong emphasis on pest management, plant pathology and biological controls.
There is also a degree course offered in Urban Ecosystems, which is a more analytical program focused on the management of urban green spaces, especially how landscaping impacts quality of life.
But for many young people already working in the landscape and nursery industry, the college's horticultural apprenticeship programs are tailor-made to help them get better qualifications and more professional know-how.
See the full article at The Vancouver Sun