2020 AFE Internship Awards and Placements
AFE congratulates and celebrates the eight students recently awarded an internship through the Vic & Margaret Ball Internship Program and the Mosmiller Internship program. Each will receive scholarships after successfully completing their paid internships, lasting between three to six months.
It’s a win-win for the industry – students can apply their knowledge, while industry organizations bring top talent and fresh thinking to their operation.
Vic & Margaret Ball Internship Awards
The Vic & Margaret Ball Internship Program provides students the opportunity to gain practical floriculture/horticulture experience while training at a commercial production greenhouse or nursery. Students will intern away from home for three, four, or six-month periods, and upon completion of their paid internship, they will receive a scholarship in the amount of $1,500 (three months), $4,000 (four months), or $6,000 (six months).
Cole Bieker – Completing a six-month internship. Internship Placement: Green Circle Growers, OH in January 2021. Scholarship Award: $6,000.
Bieker is in his third year at Kansas State University where he is pursuing his career in Horticulture Production. He is excited to look toward the future and explore the various avenues of horticulture.
William Billmeyer – Completing a six-month internship. Internship Placement: Intern location is pending with a start date of December 2021. Scholarship Award: $6,000 scholarship
Billmeyer studies Horticulture and Landscape while at Kirkwood Community College. He has been interested in plant propagation and breeding since an incredibly young age.
Jacob Brasseur – Completing a six-month internship. Internship Placement: Intern location pending. Scholarship Award: $6,000.
Brasseur is currently a student at Purdue University studying Horticulture Production and Marketing. His dream is to one day start his own cannabis growing operation.
Cora Marie Rost – Completing a three-month internship. Internship Placement: Intern location pending. Scholarship Award: $1,500.
Rost is currently a student at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities studying Plant Science. After graduation, she would like to work in a greenhouse and eventually become a greenhouse manager. She enjoys working with annuals, perennials, bulbs, and houseplants.
Patrick Younds – Completing a six-month internship. Internship Placement: Neal Mast Greenhouses, Grand Rapids, MI. Scholarship Award: $6,000
Younds is majoring in Horticulture at Iowa State University. He has always had an interest in biology and believes that the plant kingdom is the most interesting form of life.
Andrew Wiens – Completing a six-month internship. Internship Placement: Neal Mast Greenhouses, Grand Rapids, MI. Scholarship Award: $6,000
Wiens attends University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. Wiens has always enjoyed working in greenhouses.
Mosmiller Internship Awards
The Mosmiller Internship Program allows students to train at a leading retail, wholesale, or allied trade operation for a period of 10-16 weeks, getting valuable on-the-job work experience. Upon the successful completion of their paid internship, interns will receive a scholarship in the amount of $2,000.
Hannah Brendzen – Internship Placement: Intern location pending.
Brendzen is an Environmental Plant Science Horticulture student at Missouri State University. She finds flowers to be the most amazing structures on the planet. While she is trying to figure out her career goal, she is hoping that this internship experience will help her narrow down a future path and open doors for her in the floriculture industry.
Katelyn Reiss – Internship Placement: Tiger Garden in Columbia, Missouri.
Reiss is majoring in Agricultural Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She had the opportunity to take a floral design class while there and she fell in love with the freedom and creativity of designing.
Students have a second opportunity to apply in 2020. The deadline for the next cycle of applications is October 1, 2020.
Learn more at endowment.org/internships/
The health and safety of our interns is a top priority. While we continue to encourage students to apply for these internships, we are continuously evaluating the timing of internships and will grant extensions as needed to ensure the safety of our host employers, their staff, and the interns. If your business is looking for interns or you’d like to sign up to be a host, please contact Candice at AFE cmusgrove@afeendowment.org.