SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Graduates of Southern Maine Community College's horticulture program have no problem getting jobs. Over the past few years as Gardening with Gutner has traveled around the state shooting segments, we kept running into former students working in the gardening industry. We had to learn more about this successful program.
"I didn't even really know horticulture was a thing until I was looking on SMCC's [website], like all their careers and I was like oh what's this? And I looked into it and I was like okay perfect! I will be doing that," one horticulture student said.
"We have folks that are retirees, we have folks right out of high school. We have industry people that come back for training. So the common denominator is they all love plants, Cheryl Rich, chair of SMCC's horticulture program remarked. "It makes our job so much easier when we're working with folks that are passionate about what they're doing and why they are here."
The students may have different goals but they all have one thing in common.
"We refer to ourselves as the plant geeks. That's totally true. We just all love the same thing. We're all just happy to be here. We all just geek out about the plants. It's good vibes," another student observed.
"We're both definitely plant geeks and proud of it," Professor David Palm joked as he pointed to Rich.
A female student observed, "And I think I would dread doing anything else to be honest and it makes me feel like I will have a good life because regardless of how much money I make I'll be doing something I'm passionate about,"
With a horticulture degree, there are a lot of options.
"Our numbers are growing in terms of students. There's so many branches in our industry that they can go into," Palm commented.
Students expressed interest in botany, arborist work, and design. All of which the program prepares them for but that's not all it equips them with.
"One of the courses that we require of our students is an entrepreneurship course through our business department here on campus which is excellent," Rich explained. "Just because so many people that go into this field, whether they realize it at the time or not, end up going into their own business."
There is a lot of competition for an SMCC horticulture grad. At a yearly job fair, there are more businesses looking to hire than graduates.
"We always tell students coming in that we can pretty much guarantee you're going to find a job in this industry if you want to work," Palm insisted.
While the program has had many years of success, there are big plans for the future.
"We're starting to transition our physical space to the midcoast campus in Brunswick," Rich revealed. "We're starting that with this coming fall. Our incoming students will be our first classes to be at the Brunswick campus and then the following year our whole program will be up there."
Rich said the move will allow them to offer more courses, have larger greenhouses, and expand their workforce training and development around the greenhouse industry because of its growth.
While they are very excited about the future of the program Rich and Palm are proud of what their program has grown.
"I don't think either of us can go into any nursery or garden center or past a landscaping crew or go to a lecture or workshop and not be surrounded by people who we've come to know over the past, in my case 23 years," Rich reflected. "We're really lucky that we get to work with students who for the most part are also really passionate and that, that feeds you. You know that keeps you going. Keeps you excited. Keeps you motivated."