Internship of a lifetime for young horts

Every year the David Colegrave Foundation (DCF) and the American Floral Endowment (AFE), jointly award an internship of a lifetime - The Markham-Colegrave International Scholarship.

$4,500 USD is granted for the opportunity to organise a work placement in a horticultural business. This year current or recent UK based horticultural students can apply to experience production horticulture in the US/Canada.

Past winner, James Crawford, returned full of motivation after winning the Scholarship in 2018. James went to Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants in Michigan, US, where he worked throughout the main production cycle.

On applying for the award, James was studying for a BSc Horticulture at Writtle University College and was keen to know what it was like to work in ‘The land of opportunity' to see how it could benefit his career goal to work with pest and disease control in ornamental crops. James was keen to pay his thanks to those who helped to put him on track to achieve his dream career goal, “I want to thank the DCF and the AFE for the great opportunity. I also would like to thank The Ohio Program at The Ohio State University and Raker-Roberta’s for helping make this possible. It has certainly been the experience of a lifetime and has greatly helped me develop as a young grower.”

Raker-Roberta’s Young Plants is the leading wholesaler of custom grown plugs and liners in North America. Through both seed and vegetative propagation, Raker-Roberta's supplies over 3,000 plant varieties to greenhouses and nurseries around the planet. Full of enthusiasm James summed up his time there. “It provided me with invaluable first-hand experience that I can go on to use in my career. This internship has most definitely helped me meet my personal and professional goals, and I am excited to see what else lies ahead of me in this industry.”

“My overall aim was to develop a greater depth and breadth of the production horticulture industry by spending time with industry professionals in all departments of a young plant business. Raker-Roberta’s helped me meet this goal by placing me with knowledgeable and experienced team leaders in different departments, who were willing and able to share their expertise. As an intern I had the opportunity to move about and work with different members of the team, assisting them in their duties as well as covering whenever they were shorthanded.”

Jeff Colegrave, DCF Chairman commented: “Speaking with James about his internship really highlighted what an experience this award offers for a young person starting out in horticulture. James has made the most of this opportunity gaining an enormous insight into the operations at Rakers. He is clearly a motivated and organised guy, and I’m sure will go on to be a great asset to the horticultural industry.” 

In the last ten years, the DCF has awarded almost £100,000 through scholarships, trip bursaries and other educational initiatives.

This year there are seven scholarships to apply for including travel, research, sustainability and commercial awards. Scholarship Season is open now until 31 January 2020.

To apply visit www.davidcolegravefoundation.org.uk