UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ten students from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences were among the scholarship winners in this year’s Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Scholars Competition.
The association, known as GCSAA, is a leading golf organization in the United States and focuses on golf course management. The scholarship program was developed to recognize outstanding students planning careers in golf course management.
Criteria for selecting student award winners include academic achievement, potential to become a leading industry professional, employment history, extracurricular activities, and recommendations from a current academic adviser and from a superintendent with whom the student has worked.
Landon W. Hall, of Killarney, Manitoba, Canada, received the MacCurrach Award of $3,000. Scholar Award winners were Russell Bolarinho, of Acushnet, Massachusetts, who received $2,000; William Covert, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, who received $1,500; and Ryan Welker, of Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, who received $1,000.
The association gave Merit Awards of $500 to Jack Daley, of Cave Creek, Arizona; Keith Dubaich, of Shermans Dale, Pennsylvania; Luke Gabel, of Laguna Beach, California; Mason Marsh, of Mount Washington, Kentucky; Clark McCall, of Maryville, Tennessee; and Garrett Wege, of New Derry, Pennsylvania.
Covert and Welker are turfgrass science majors; the other students are in the turfgrass management program.
John Kaminski, professor of turfgrass science, said, “The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America has a history of supporting future leaders in the industry through these scholarships. The fact that Penn State students received half of all the scholarships awarded nationally speaks volumes to the quality of our program and our students.”
The GCSAA Scholars Program is funded primarily by the Robert Trent Jones Endowment and administered by the Environmental Institute for Golf, the GCSAA’s philanthropic organization.