Twenty-six students completed the week-long Davey Institute of Grounds Management (D.I.G.M), held at the international headquarters of The Davey Tree Expert Company.
D.I.G.M. includes classroom and field exercises in tree and turf care, disease diagnosis and invasive plants and nuisance pests. This year’s class included sessions on how to create rain gardens and bioretention areas in addition to a customer-led panel discussion on customer satisfaction.
R.J. Laverne, Davey’s manager of education and training, pointed out that D.I.G.M. is only one of many training classes Davey offers. “The array of education and training opportunities Davey provides our employees, from the Davey Institute of Tree Sciences, to our associate’s degree program, to our online extension coursework is unique within the green industry,” said Laverne. “As our largest commercial training program, D.I.G.M. continues to evolve to prepare our employees for technical, business-driven and team-related opportunities.”
Attendees were drawn from Davey operations across North America and had to be nominated by their field managers and approved by corporate management to be admitted into the prestigious program. This year’s participants included: David Abraham, Rene Alatorre, Marco Barcelo, John Bekelesky, Ennis Bohannon, Alex Burgun, Anthony Clum, Ryan Coffer, Daniel Dowgiallo, Jarod Emerson, Christopher Feliciano, Daniel Griest, Andrew Herrlich, Steven Hovan, Chris Jancsurak, Rick Mansfield, Dennis McGowan, Sean McGuire, Jonathan O’Barr, Ryan Orr, Orlando Rivera Amaro, Frederick Roach, Cody Roberts, Andrew Weitzel, Rudger Whitaker and Cinde York.