The NALP Foundation named Daniel Greenwell, department head of horticulture and agriculture for Piedmont Technical College in Greenwood, South Carolina, the 2024 Outstanding Educator of the Year.
Greenwell dual-enrolled at Tallahassee Community College and earned his Associate of Arts degree before finding his passion for horticulture. He then transferred to the University of Florida and graduated with a degree in plant science with an emphasis in landscape and nursery horticulture.
He also attended the Auburn University Public Horticulture program, where he graduated with a Master of Science degree in horticulture and a graduate certificate in public horticulture.
Greenwell constantly looks for ways for his students to learn, grow and gain professional experience. He is described as humble, supportive, and an example other educators should follow. He is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get dirt under his fingernails as he instructs students in their hands-on calling.
At the National Collegiate Landscape Competition, Greenwell was recognized for his commitment to his students. NALP recently chatted with Greenwell about his journey as an educator.
When were you first attracted to horticulture?
I did not grow up in a family that was involved in any real way with agriculture or horticulture. I first gained interest in horticulture through picking up landscape jobs in my neighborhood as a teenager. I would gear up with my backpack blower, push mower, and weed eater and head down the street to take care of a couple different yards. I think what I enjoyed most was paying attention to the details, especially when weed eating and edging – it was so satisfying creating those clean, crisp lines.
My parents encouraged me to explore this interest more, which is when I applied for a seasonal position at Tallahassee Nurseries for the Christmas tree season. I was hired on seasonally, which transitioned into a full-time job working in the tree and shrub department. My boss, John, and co-worker, Sean, generously shared their passion and knowledge for plants with me, which is ultimately what sealed my fate and sent me packing to the University of Florida to pursue my BS degree.
What do you love most about being an educator?
I love being able to give my students new experiences that they likely wouldn’t be able to have outside of being in a program like ours. The more that I can get students hands-on with equipment, meeting with industry, going on exciting field trips, working on real-life projects on campus, and going to as many conferences and tradeshows as is practical, the more value I believe they get in return for their investment of time and money into our program.
All of these experiences boost students’ excitement and enthusiasm for this career path and their future. Seeing the students get excited when they see or experience something new is what gets me excited.
What is your proudest moment as a horticulture educator?
It is hard to pinpoint a “proudest moment,” but one that stands out to me recently is a student’s evolution with learning how to use the throwline for arboriculture climbing. A week prior to attending NCLC this year, our student who had been practicing for the throwline event had to back out of the trip for health reasons. Another student stepped up and began practicing that same week. It was immediately apparent that he was very gifted at it. He went on to compete in the event at BYU and made three of his five throws. On his last throw he just barely missed the highest mark but asked if he could throw one more time for fun just to see if he could make it. He nailed it!
Throughout the day of the competition, this student returned to the throwline arena several times and threw more with the sponsors when there was free time, picking up some new techniques. In our Urban Tree Care lab the following week, I asked this student if he could run a “throwline station” with half the class while I did a different activity with the other half, which he eagerly agreed to. When I came by to check on him, he was perfectly engaged with students, offering up encouragement and tips for improvement – absolutely no need for my help.
I really can’t take credit for his success with the throwline other than being able to be part of the process in exposing him to this practice and providing the opportunity to attend NCLC, where he further honed his passion and skills. It’s moments like this one, where I can see students develop a new passion, or grow in an existing one, that makes me proud to be able to play a small role in that.
What is your biggest challenge as an educator?
One of my biggest challenges is to continue to come up with new and creative strategies to help students with long-term knowledge retention and skills development. I think I can sometimes be very practical or matter-of-fact with my lab activities, and I would like to get a little more creative each time I offer my classes.
What do you think is a significant barrier preventing young people from being interested in the landscape industry?
Unless it is someone starting their own landscape business, I think many people don’t consider working in the landscape industry as a viable career path. There are negative perceptions about pay, work intensity, type of work, and perceived societal job status that cause people to not dig deeper and thus, end up opting for more “traditional” career pathways.
I think the antidote is to spotlight stories of individuals in various sectors of the landscape industry who are both successful and fulfilled with their jobs. Once young people can see themselves in someone else’s story, they can have a taste of what it could look like for them.
What does it mean to you to be named the educator of the year?
I am beyond humbled. I am fortunate to know several previous recipients of this award and they have been, and remain, a model that I look to for inspiration and guidance in how I teach, interact with, and impact my students. I am honored to have my name listed amongst theirs. If anything, being recognized with this award makes me want to grow as an educator even more. There is a lot to be learned out there and I feel like I have just scratched the surface. At NCLC, I picked up a number of new ideas from several other educators that I am excited to implement in my classes in the coming year.
What is the No. 1 lesson you hope students take away from your class?
I want my students to know that education doesn’t stop here in college. I want them to take on a mentality of lifelong learning and networking. There are so many new findings in academia, new practices developed in industry, and novel new equipment introduced by manufacturers every single year. Not to mention the myriad of books that have already been written and years and years of experience of others that can be tapped into via relationship building in the local community and at regional and national conferences and tradeshows.
In five years, where do you see horticulture education? Where will you be?
In our program, we are headed towards the use of more training stations that simulate real-life activities. For example, we plan to have irrigation head adjustment and troubleshooting stations that will include many of the common heads from all the common manufacturers. Same thing for irrigation valves and controllers and many other products and tools.
We would like to have six stations/training kits for all sorts of activities so that we can break students into groups of 2-4 per station/kit so that each student has more “run time” with the product or tool than to have all the students gather around one station and have very little actual time to actually struggle and work with it. The more time we can have students spend with products, tools, and equipment, the more proficiency and confidence they can gain, which is a win for the students and the industry.
What advice would you give to other horticulture educators trying to get young people interested in the landscaping field?
You have to give young people a taste of the industry and what it is like to work in it. Get them on some equipment or in front of other professionals using equipment. Go on exciting field trips. You also have to get them in front of people who work in the industry and are passionate about their work and who will share their experience and passion with them.
This article was published in the July/August issue of the magazine. To read more stories from The Edge magazine, click here to subscribe to the digital edition.
