First and foremost, I love working outdoors and being hands on with anything to do with turfgrass biology. Although I love to work in the outdoors and be hands on, I almost equally as much like studying and sharing my expertise on turfgrass whether that is in the office in front of the computer making sales or conducting marketing strategies and sharing my passion for the industry with customers and other professionals within the turfgrass industry. My first professional job that I tackled was brought to me through my college education. I attended Chippewa Valley Technical College and graduated with an Associates Degree in Landscape, Plant, & Turf Management to pursue my passion for being outdoors and maintaining turfgrass. This degree gave me the expertise and knowledge needed to be a professional in the turfgrass industry. I was presented with my first job through the college as an internship with the Milwaukee Brewers. While I was in Milwaukee, I was apart of the grounds crew that was in charge of maintaining the Miller Park playing surface. I had many roles at this job from prepping the field for games, maintaining the field during games, to working late nights to put the field to bed. Many skills that I tackled there have led me to where I am at today in the industry. The most important skills I took away from the Milwaukee experience was the ability to take on many responsibilities at one time, and to maintain patience through all of those responsibilities even though there was many high pressure moments. With my current position that I have been working at now for almost three years, I have displayed several skills and have applied a magnitude of my knowledge to the profession. At my current position I have several responsibilities and skills. Here are just a few skills I have displayed and display throughout my everyday workday: customer service, marketing, sales, computer savvy, turf management, use of pesticides and fertilizers, operation of machines, snow removal, colleague interaction, diagnosing turf issues, turf, weed, and disease identification. Everything about this industry drives me and motivates me on a daily basis. Wherever I go the thought of the turfgrass and plant biology is constantly running through my mind, even if it's going for a walk with my significant other and pointing out what species of tree is up ahead or going golfing with some friends and trying to show them different grass varieties and species on the putting green. Being able to demonstrate my knowledge and apply it is what I love about the turf industry.