Horticulture Students Spruce Up Area Church for 'Earth Day'

Eleven members of Penn College's Horticulture Club participated in the second annual PLANET Day of Service on Thursday, marking Earth Day 2010 by beautifying the grounds of an area church. "We cleaned up and weeded and ripped out plants at the First United Methodist Church in Montgomery," said Carl J. Bower, a member of the college's horticulture faculty and club adviser, adding that second-year students were familiar with the location from a computer aided design class at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center. "Since we are in the process of enhancing the landscape of the church with a new design, I thought this would be a good project to tackle as our Day of Service. The students learned a little about giving back to the community, which is an important life lesson that is hard to teach in the classroom." Joining Bower in more than 20 total hours of cleanup work were Sandra M. Angstadt, Kutztown; Kyle B. Brown, Loysburg; Ethan S. Dreisbach, Pine Grove; ChristopherJ. Ginter, Yukon; Andrew J. Kaminski, Moscow; Sean F. O'Brien, Wallingford; Wyatt C. Phillips, Dallas; Logan T. Richard, Alexandria, Va.,; Jason G. Robinson, Olney, Md.; Megan Schmid, Danville; and Joshua S. Towson, New Park. With the exception of Ginter, who is an ornamental horticulture: plant production emphasis student, all are majoring in ornamental horticulture: landscape technology emphasis. PLANET is the acronym for the Professional Landcare Network, which accredits Penn College's associate-degree program in ornamental horticulture. Bower and his students took part in last year's inaugural Day of Service, as well, providing volunteer labor at the Williamsport YWCA. Photos by Carl J. Bower, horticulture instructor