Student Outreach
By David Anderson , MCA , Mayer Tree Service
Looking back to my high school years , although I had passion , I was not the strongest student and lacked direction upon graduation . I was lucky enough to see a job ad for a small company as I started my professional career . The company was Olde Colonial Tree and Landscape , and the owner is Jay Ippolito , MCLP , MCA . Jay was an amazing mentor who had a great influence on me . He taught me a trade that I have always loved , and he made me a better person . Because I am so grateful for that experience , I spend a lot of time working with high school and college students trying to help them . Most of these students are exceptional , but many of them need work and an industry mentor .
There are so many talented young students at Agricultural and Vocational high schools seeking opportunities . I know many people and companies spend time and money helping schools . However , I want to encourage more of you to be involved .
Teachers of Agricultural and Vocational schools are doing incredible work creating interesting curricula and events to encourage their students to become our future employees . Nicole Forsyth has developed a Green Industry Day at Norfolk Aggie which is amazing . South Shore Tech and Bristol Aggie host reverse career fairs . ( A reverse career fair is an event where instead of the companies being at tables presenting themselves , the student presents a PowerPoint on their accomplishments ). Essex Aggie has a job fair where their students must engage with several vendors even if it ’ s not their major .
I am very lucky that Dan Mayer , MCA feels the same and always encourages me to be more involved . We have great relationships with a lot of these amazing teachers and schools . It ’ s a pleasure to meet so many of these young students who are looking for work . The bad news is often when I attend these wonderful events there are more students than companies . I realize not every company can or wants to hire kids under eighteen , but you can participate .
We always talk about looking for good employees and this is another great option . If you work at a company that cannot hire younger people because of insurance reasons , please find other ways to help and engage these students . You can still go to the school events which are usually in the winter and are usually only a couple of hours long . If you are a smaller company that has more leeway with this , it can be an opportunity to bring someone on board and mold them to your culture . If you don ’ t have the time to go to the school or be on the advisory board , host an open house at your shop and invite your local school , or invite students to visit a work site for exposure and learning opportunities . Remember these students will be adults soon , do not pass opportunities to recruit future good people .
Please reach out to your local Agriculture and Vocational schools to see how you can help them . If you are already doing this , thank you so much . It is a great symbiotic relationship that our industry can and should do more often .
Mayer Tree Reaches Out
We recently had a group of Essex Aggie students visit Mayer Tree on January 10 , 2025 . They met us while two of our crews were working at Mount Auburn Cemetery . It was a great day because the students got to visit a historic botanical garden and watch our crews remove some dangerous trees in some very difficult locations . Our team did an amazing job making it look easy . We are honored to work at Mount Auburn Cemetery even on a cold winter day . It is a beautiful and historic place .
We are very fortunate to have a strong relationship with the school , especially with the arboriculture teachers . These teachers do a great job training their students to become good arborists but more importantly , molding them to become great people . Through this relationship , we have hired several great interns and full-time members of our team . https :// northshoreshore . org
MAA NEWS SPRING 2025 13