How NCLC Planted the Seeds of a Thriving Career for This Young Pro

In a world where many college graduates are struggling to find their first job due to a number of factors, this wasn’t an issue for Chris Graham, who started working for Designscapes Colorado, based in Centennial, Colorado, as a residential design associate in February this year.

Graham graduated from Colorado State University in December 2024 with a degree in horticulture and a concentration in landscape design and contracting.

“I had offers for jobs as early as this past September,” Graham says. “Being in an accredited horticulture college program puts you in pretty high demand, especially if you’re wanting to be a standout individual in any of those fields.”

Graham fell into the landscape industry as he started out majoring in natural resources at CSU. He originally wanted to work for the Forest Service or Parks and Wildlife. A fellow student and friend suggested Graham look into the landscape design and contracting program, and he made the switch in 2021.

“The more I attended things, the more I realized, ‘Okay, I made a great decision,’ Graham says. “Being able to go to those big association events, any of the NALP things, or even the state-level stuff, I was like, ‘Okay, wow, there’s a lot more here.’”

Graham’s parents were skeptical about his career choice at first, but they now have peace of mind that he is in an industry that will continue to elevate him and provide him with a fruitful career.

NCLC’s Impact

Graham says his participation in the National Collegiate Landscape Competition has been incredibly beneficial for his career.

He attended his first NCLC in 2022, and at the time, he mostly viewed it as a chance to travel, but by his second year attending, it had become a lot more important to him, as it gave him an opportunity to explore the different companies and job options across the country.

“Any incoming freshman or somebody starting their degree or undergrad in horticulture should absolutely consider attending NCLC for those reasons,” Graham says.

His summer internship with Designscapes Colorado last year came from a conversation he had during NCLC at BYU in 2024.

“I’ve been familiar with some of the leadership here at Designscapes for a while, but really those conversations came about at BYU NCLC last year, and that spurred the internship, which then turned into a job,” Graham says.

Graham recommends students attending future NCLCs never turn away from a conversation during the event.

“If there’s a company-sponsored dinner or a luncheon or something like that, I would go to every single one of those,” Graham says. “I would entertain as many interviews as you could from the career fair. Shake as many hands as possible. Just meet people. The industry people are there for the same reason you are, and I think that’s the most important part. So many of the interviews and job opportunities I’ve had have come from those interactions at NCLC.”

He says one of the strongest advantages he’s had has been knowing leadership from different companies through conversations he had at NCLC.

The competitive events are also helpful for students to explore different aspects of the industry.

“Depending on what kind of events people choose to do and how excited they are to pursue that, it really is actually a leg up,” Graham says. “I did irrigation design 2024 at BYU, and I took third place in that. Just being able to do that well in that event has set me up where now I feel like I’m ahead a bit of where a lot of people are at a similar age with irrigation knowledge. Now it’s a specialty I’m considering pursuing as well.”

Graham is currently working on earning his CLT certification with an irrigation concentration.

Joining the Industry

When deciding between all the different career options, what helped Graham choose which company to go with was a good company culture. He also wanted to work somewhere that allowed growth.

In his current role with Designscapes, Graham works to support two of the senior designers on the team by taking site measurements, building base maps and estimates. Graham is an AutoCAD drafter primarily. He also pulls together design element boards with inspiration images and pictures of plants.

“What my college program did was set aside a curriculum that has content in estimating, irrigation principles and design, as well as just professional practices of the industry, things that were really beneficial for me,” Graham says. “When I got here, I felt pretty prepared. After having been here a while, I’m like, ‘Okay I got my money’s worth.’”

He convinced the company to buy PropertyIntel, a landscape measurement and takeoff software offered through Aspire, as he became familiar with the software while attending CSU. During his capstone class in college, he utilized PropertyIntel a lot for his final projects and for putting together takeoffs.

“Right now, I’m a residential team software lead for PropertyIntel, and I’ve been hosting trainings and working with our administrative team to implement PropertyIntel more here,” Graham says. “A lot of times I’ll use that for baseline or supplemental information with all my site survey-related things.”  

Graham also had the opportunity to volunteer at NCLC this year as an industry professional. He was super excited about pitching in.

“Honestly, it was a small factor in deciding who I wanted to work for,” Graham says. “Is this company involved with something like this because NCLC was something that was super important to me all through college, and I saw the value in that. I wanted to work for a company that also shared those values and interest in supporting the education community.”

Graham says he brought a couple of design associates and other alumni to set up the landscape plant install competition space on Friday morning. They unloaded the trucks and set out the plants.

“I jumped in a skid steer and tilled up the last couple of the planting beds and things like that,” Graham says. “Then we jumped over to truck and trailer and helped to judge there for a little bit. Then, when the plant install event came around, we headed back down and picked up some clipboards.”

Graham says while judging the event, he could tell which students were really prepared and had done their homework.

“It was awesome seeing my former college space full of students from across the country,” Graham says. “Seeing those familiar faces and the atmosphere of NCLC again was really nice to see just from a different lens. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Graham encourages other landscape companies to participate in the career fair at NCLC.

“There are so many bright individuals that are competing at NCLC, and they’re all there for the opportunity to meet industry professionals and try to get their start,” Graham says. “I think each one of those students deserves the opportunity to see that this isn’t just a grumpy old contractor industry. This industry is growing, it’s fun to do, it’s professional, and there’s a lot of opportunity there.”