The third year of the applied degree is part of the highest level of education you can obtain in turfgrass management, to this day Olds College is the only institute in Canada offering this type of education for turfgrass students. My expectations where just that, gain the highest level of education to speed up my goals of becoming a successful superintendent in the near future.
There were many aspects of learning in the3rd year that I felt would give me an edge in industry. To list a few, the IPM class provided realistic scenarios interacting with actua lclients. We were assigned a golf course in the area and those courses appointed our group 3 key pests that they deal with day to day. Taking all semester to complete you and your client come out with a professional document outlining a full-scale IPM plan.
The integrated project is the pinnacle of the research component of the 3rd year. It’s a full semester of figuring out the logistics and detailing the steps of your project, carrying over into the 2nd semester you execute the research and present your results in a symposium in front of 300 people. It’s a real sense of accomplishment seeing your integrated project come together in the end. It’s a process and a large component of the program but really gives you confidence to understand data and research out in industry.
Another class that I considered the bread and butter of the degree program is Golf Course Master Planning with Jason Pick. When you become a superintendent your role steers from being on the grounds to office work, a large fundamental is that of human resources and the budget. A daunting task but this class goes in depth on the knowledge directly associated with the future of your industry in that aspect, something that the diploma does not offer.
To summarize the 3rd year I believe it’s a valuable investment in your career that will benefit you as a manager in the future. It will defiantly separate your resume from the rest when applying for a job. Like any degree program there can be minor adjustments done to the course but I can say from my experience that the pros outweigh the cons, your managerial skills will be amplified as a result of the degree program. The links below are a few projects you can expect to accomplish while enrolled in the third year.
IPM document link:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6-SgPCwpDInN05yalNUd0ZFdjQ/edit?usp=sharing
Environmental Management Blog:
http://franzsustainablegolf.blogspot.ca/
Franz Unterberger
