A West Virginia University horticulture student is getting a sneak preview of the professional world after winning an internship from the American Floral Endowment (AFE). Natalie Bumgarner, a senior in WVU s Davis College, received the AFE s Vic and Margaret Ball Internship.
The internship provides Bumgarner with a financial stipend, allowing her to complete a stint at a commercial production greenhouse or nursery. This semester, shes working at Oglevee Limited in Connellsville, Pa.
Oglevee is a leader in the horticulture industry with facilities in Pennsylvania and Georgia, along with production in Kenya and Mexico,said Bumgarner.They mainly produce geraniums and poinsettias shipped out as rooted cutting to other greenhouse operations. Other flowers, such as impatiens, begonias and carnations are secondary crops.
Bumgarner is working under Oglevees head grower, focusing mainly on gaining knowledge and experience in production.
The scale of Oglevee is much larger than any of my previous work experiences and has been quite educational so far,Bumgarner said.I have spent most of my time in the greenhouses working as a grower, watering, spraying pesticides and monitoring pests. I have also been able to spend some time working in the lab.
Oglevee does extensive virus and disease testing on all of their varieties.
In her fourth week, Bumgarner says the internshiphas been a great experience and I have already gained much new information and am expanding my skills.
Bumgarner was encouraged to apply for the internship by her advisor, Sven Verlinden, an assistant professor of horticulture in the Davis College. Bumgarner has worked with Verlinden on research projects and through her experience in WVU s Plant and Soil Sciences Greenhouse. While at WVU , Bumgarner has completed an independent study by supervising variety trials for poinsettias growers.
The Ball Internship is the latest in a string of academic achievements for Bumgarner, of Elizabeth. In 2004, she received the Paris Fracasso Memorial Scholarship from the Floriculture Industry Research and Scholarship Trust. Gamma Sigma Delta, the Honor Society for Agriculture, named her Outstanding Sophomore in 2003 and Outstanding Junior in 2004.
Vic&Margaret Ball established the internship program in 1992, hoping to attract students to floriculture and make meaningful work experience in production part of a complete education. Having observed first-hand the educational value of work-study, the
Balls established the Internship Program to assure continuance of practical experience opportunities.
The Davis Colleges horticulture program focuses on the science of production, processing and marketing of fruit, vegetable, greenhouse and landscape crops. Students in horticulture study physiology, culture, harvest, quality control, sales and utilization of horticultural crops. Faculty prepare students to be orchard managers, vegetable farm or greenhouse operators, landscape contractors, golf course and park horticulturists, seed and supply company representatives, state and federal nursery inspectors and educators in schools and extension.
Experiential learning is central to the horticulture program, both at the on-campus greenhouse facilities and at the nearby Horticulture Farm. The farm, located on Route 705 in Morgantown, is home to the innovative Organic Research Project.