Williamson’s Flower Show Exhibit
Receives Two Prestigious Awards
“The Other Side of Holland,” William-
son’s exhibit in the Philadelphia Flower
Show received two prestigious awards
— a silver medal from the Pennsylva-
nia Horticultural Society and a Special
Achievement Award of the Garden Club
Federation of Pennsylvania — awarded
to an exhibit of unusual excellence (un-
der 1,000 square feet) in the category of
horticulture.
Chuck Feld, horticulture instruc-
tor, said the silver award was certainly
a nice medal to receive, but the award
from the Garden Club Federation of
Pennsylvania is especially satisfying.
“The PHS medal was from our competi-
tion against the other exhibits in the ed-
ucation category, but the Garden Club’s
award was us competing against all of
the exhibits in the entire show. That is
very stiff competition.”
Feld added, “When you think of flow-
ers from Holland, you think of bulbs,
especially tulips. We demonstrated
that while Holland is the world leader
in breeding new cultivars of bulbs, it
also breeds annuals, woody plants, and
perennials. The main purpose of our
exhibit was to educate visitors on how
plants are bred, propagated, and intro-
duced into the trade, and also to high-
light new perennials on the market.”
The exhibit, which was located in the
main exhibition hall, featured a garden
of newly introduced perennial cultivars
from Holland in flowing masses and,
because the exhibit emphasized edu-
cation, there were descriptions of the
plants and their uses.
Visitors were able to walk on a path
through the garden to a greenhouse
that featured a demonstration of how
the new plants are bred and propagated
with cuttings. Students were on hand
Williamson’s exhibit in the Flower Show received a special visit from Vir-
ginia Rowan Smith, daughter of Henry Rowan for whom the main administra-
tion building is named, and chair of Inductotherm Corp., group vice president
of the Inductotherm Group, and a member of the board of directors of In-
del, Inc. Pictured are (from left to right): President Michael Rounds; Virginia
Rowan Smith; Steve Spranger 1W7; Chuck Feld, horticulture instructor; Will
Krakowiak 1W7; and Janet and William Bonenberger 7W9, board chairman.
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“The Other Side of Holland,” Williamson’s exhibit in the Philadelphia Flower
Show received two prestigious awards — a silver medal from the Pennsyl-
vania Horticultural Society and a Special Achievement Award of the Garden
Club Federation of Pennsylvania-awarded to an exhibit of unusual excellence.
to answer questions and provide a list
of all the perennials used in the exhibit
and how they can be used in home gar-
dens.
The exhibit’s educational materials
also included panels with such topics
as: “The Other Side of Holland,” “Did
you Know that Plants are Patented?,”
“Tissue Culture,” “Plant Breeding,” and
“Gregor Mendel: The Father of Genet-
ics.”
Feld says this exhibit was one of the
most ambitious and educational exhib-
its they ever put together. “We think
the public found it exciting and learned
something from it they can use at
home.”
Some horticulture students also had
good things to say about their exhibit:
Shane Goodworth 1W7 said, “I think
the exhibit turned out better than we
envisioned it. We all worked well to-
gether as a team putting it together.”
Kristian Cowher 1W7 said, “Everyone
who stopped to talk to us said they en-
joyed it very much. I think we deserve
the awards we received. We worked
very hard on the exhibit.”
Raequan Norman 1W7 said, “I think
our exhibit came out better than we
thought it would. I’m pleased with our
exhibit and our awards. Many visitors
asked questions about Williamson and
we told them all about it.”
Will Krakowiak 1W7 said, “I think
our exhibit exceeded my expectations.
I think it also was the most education-
al exhibit in the show. Receiving two
awards was really nice.”
Also helping were carpenters, who
built cypress benches for the green-
house, painters who painted the bench-
es, and machinists who made engraved
plant labels shaped like wooden sh oes.
Exhibit funding came from the Hoxie
Harrison Smith Foundation, the Frank-
lin Mint Federal Credit Union, and the
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
Donations of printed panels were
provided by KC Signs, brochures were
provided by Precision Print/Safeguard
Business Systems, and plant lists were
provided by Professional Duplicating.
Star Roses and Plants and Creek Hill
Nursery helped with the procurement
of plants.
Vann ’17 Takes Silver Medal
At SkillsUSA Nationals
Ronald Vann 1W7, construction tech-
nology-masonry, earned a silver medal
in the masonry competition at the Skill-
sUSA national competition in June.
Vann and six other students repre-
sented Williamson well at nationals in
Louisville, Ky., said John Curran 0W5,
SkillsUSA advisor.
“The guys did very well even though
Ronald was the only one who placed in
the top ten. They all did their best and
behaved the way we expect Williamson
students to behave. Everyone who saw
them in action was impressed with their
skill. We can all be proud of the way
they represented Williamson.”
The other competitors and their area
of competition were: Automated Ma-
chine Technology - Enrique Figueroa
1W7, Erik Hoover 1W7, Chris Frank
1W7, all machine tool technology; Car-
pentry - Ian Steveline 1W7, construc-
tion technology-carpentry; CNC Tech-
nician - Ryan Martin 1W7, machine
tool technology; and Plumbing - Tim
Bozzelli 1W8, power plant technology.
In addition to Curran, also attend-
ing with the students were Jim Schell,
power plant technology instructor, and
Pete Zwolak 0W7, director of construc-
tion technology-masonry.
“Pete and Jim each did an awesome
job working with the guys. It was Pete’s
first year to attend nationals and he did
an outstanding job. This was Jim’s last
Continued on page 10
Representing Williamson College of the Trades at the SkillsUSA national
competitions in Louisville, Ky., from June 20-23, were seven students and
instructors John Curran 0W5, Pete Zwolak 0W7, and Jim Schell.