FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 28, 2005 - Shirley Luna

SFA horticulture students bring home honors from Arkansas competition

The Stephen F. Austin State University Horticulture Club won its first overall team award in the J. Benton Storey Student Horticulture Competition held recently in Little Rock, Ark.

Team members are Amanda Bittick, Trey Anderson III, Jenny Wegley and Nathan Unclebach.

The competition pits Southern U.S. horticulture clubs in a judging event with four classes: woody ornamentals, greenhouse floral and foliage plants, vegetable crops, and fruit and nut crops.

Individually, Anderson was the third highest scoring individual in the contest and took a third-place individual award in the fruit and nuts division. Unclebach took first-place individual award in vegetables. Bittick took second-place individual in vegetables and first place in the fruit and nuts division.

Other SFA team awards included a second-place finish in woody ornamentals, first place in vegetables and first place in the fruit and nuts division.

“It’s great that we beat some big schools in this competition, of course; but really the best thing is helping our students mix with horticulture professors and students from across the South to exchange ideas, make plans and talk horticulture,” said Dr. Dave Creech, co-adviser to the team.

Texas A&M and Mississippi State University took the second- and third-place overall team awards.

The competition is held during the Southern Region meeting of the American Society for Horticultural Science, a gathering of all the universities across the South featuring horticulture departments for workshops, meetings, oral paper and poster presentation and a chance to connect with colleagues.