Two Sam Houston students have received the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association Education and Research Foundation scholarship for the 2005-2006 year.
Daniel Lane Hirsch and Sharon Frey were recently selected among 21 who received the scholarship. These students come from two different backgrounds and have different life experiences.
Hirsch is a junior majoring in general business and minoring in horticulture/landscape design. He received the “In Honor of Ray Haynes Scholarship,” sponsored by Excel Garden Products. Hirsch said he has paid his way through college with scholarships, and this one will be used in the same way which is to pay for tuition.
Hirsch said horticulture was not his first choice of college studies.
“For years, I wanted to be a vet and finally my dad sat me down and asked if that was really what I wanted to pursue in life,” said Hirsch. “Being a vet would give me a more constricted lifestyle which is not what I wanted.”
Horticulture and landscape is a very different field from veterinary medicine.
“The horticulture field allows me to be outside and inside,” said Hirsch. “It is great to watch something go from nothing and grow into something that is beautiful.”
Hirsch said after he finishes college he wants to work with a landscaping company.
“I am hoping that for about four to five years out of college, I can gain experience by working with a large company and then have the knowledge to start my own business,” said Hirsch.
Sharon Frey is an agricultural sciences graduate student. She received the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association general scholarship. According to Frey, she has been a student all her life. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and taught public middle school kinesiology on and off for 13 years and coached several different sports.
Frey decided to take a break from teaching to become a full time mom to her two boys.
“However I begin to get ‘cabin fever’ and decided to go part time to SHSU to obtain a Biology teaching certificate and completed that in 1990,” said Frey.
When her kids started elementary school, Frey decided to go back to full-time teaching but resigned again in 2003 to be at home when her kids would return from school.
“I thought it would be a great time to return to school to pursue a Masters in Agricultural Science with an emphasis in horticulture,” said Frey.
“I have always enjoyed gardening and have past endeavors with gardening and landscape, [and] it is a great way to admire God’s creations,” said Frey.
According to Frey, after she receives her masters, she wants to explore her options. She said she would like to either return to the classroom in high schools teaching Horticulture related classes or as a college lecturer, joining or starting up a horticulture enterprise or working with the County Extension Agent.
Frey said, “There have been many opportunities that have come and gone my way, [and] I have been blessed to seize some of them and miss others.”