Building Capacity in Public Horticulture through Strategic Partnerships and Cooperative Education

Without adding new interest and youthful minds to the ranks of our staff, membership, and visitation: the public gardens of today will tire, age, and near extinction.  Longwood Gardens has recently launched a Co-Op Program in partnership with a local Technical High School and Trade College. The program is strategically aimed to build capacity in public horticulture, not only through opportunities with plants and gardening, but through other trades including carpentry, machinery, electrical, HVAC, security etc. This program allows for hands-on training with knowledgeable staff coupled with academic learning in the students’ classroom at his/her home institution. Currently in its second year, this program has proven successful as the student satisfies a mandatory experiential learning requirement, the school gains a community partner, and the public garden profession is impressed on future generations as a potential career path. Not only does the Co-Op expose students to a public garden, but it allows them to connect with the larger context of a potential career in horticulture.