Stephen F. Austin State University

A group of Stephen F. Austin State University students recently received awards in a regional horticulture competition.

The team traveled to Mobile, Ala., to attend the Southern Region American Society for Horticultural Science conference, and received third place overall, first place in woody ornamentals, and third place in greenhouse floral and foliage.

Graduate students Brennan Whitehead of Buna and Lijing Zhou of Harbin, China, presented their thesis work at the Norman F. Childers M.S. Graduate Student Paper Competition. A team of undergraduates including Christina Keim of Lubbock, Stephen Lehmann of Longview, Roel Ortega of Mercedes, and Bo Spears of Lucas competed in the J. Benton Storey Undergraduate Student Horticulture Judging Contest Awards.

Keim earned second place individual honors in woody ornamentals and in fruit and nut crops, and Spears earned third place in woody ornamentals.

"With the Arboretum, Pineywoods Native Plant Center and Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden right outside our back door, very few universities can boast the kind of learning resources we have," said Dr. David Creech, SFA horticulture professor. "This year's first place in woody ornamentals is testimony to that. And while winning is great, I see the main plus is that our students get connected with some of the other horticulture programs across the South and realize, yes, they can compete."

Next year's team will compete in Dallas.