Morton Arboretum Interns, Photo Courtesy of The Morton Arboretum
ALEXANDRIA, VA - Internships have long been a common component of horticulture degree-granting programs and related disciplines, often offering college credit for working during the summer break. These can be effective partnerships that benefit employers as well as students, who are able to gain experience and benefit from being trained by highly skilled professionals.
Through the integration of structured educational experiences with on-the-job learning, internships are valuable tools to expose early career professionals to a field of employment, specific job types, and functions. In addition to providing practical experience and professional networking opportunities, an internship also allows one to start clarifying career goals, sculpt a vision of their future professional life, and take the first steps toward its realization. An internship program is also beneficial to the employer as a positive experience can result in an advocate for organization and perhaps even a future skilled worker seeking employment.
The Morton Arboretum is a public garden renowned for its diverse tree collections, research activities, and educational programing. Since the early 2000s, The Morton Arboretum has offered a public horticulture internship with the purpose of introducing early career professionals to the multitude of career options available at public gardens. The interns rotate through a variety of departments and also complete a short, independent project. The arboretum's curator serves as the internship coordinator and is responsible for the selection, onboarding, and general supervision of the interns. With some exceptions, two interns are selected each year and are generally rising seniors or recent graduates of BS degree programs in horticulture, biology, environmental sciences, or similar disciplines.
At the conclusion of the internship, interns complete a short evaluation of the program and are generally quite satisfied. However, though this method of evaluation can certainly reveal short-term program satisfaction, it does little to reveal how effective the program was in shaping career goals, providing access to a professional network, or guiding job placement.
An evaluation of The Morton Arboretum's Public Horticulture Internship Program was recently conducted to learn the long-term impacts of the program. The results portrayed a well-received program that was generally effective in its goals. Forty-six percent of respondents were currently working in public gardens, including several in high-level administrative and leadership positions.
Surveys and interviews of former interns who completed the program between 2003 and 2019 were conducted with the goals of informing future program development and understanding the opportunities and challenges former interns have experienced while seeking careers in public horticulture.
Public gardens are one potential source for horticulture internship opportunities. Though public garden internships are often only loosely characterized or defined, intern responsibilities generally differ from other staff to include participation in workshops, field trips, and staff meetings; ability to rotate around specific garden areas to learn a variety of tasks; assignment of an independent project; and/or significant involvement in direct teaching/training activities comprising up to 50% of their time. Though some college advisors consider public garden internships beneficial and capable of providing a broad range of hands-on experiences, few college advisors have established relationships with public gardens, and thus are not presumed to recommend public garden internships to a significant extent. Furthermore, some advisors are aware of internship programs at public gardens, but are reluctant to encourage them, viewing them as less rigorous than those in the commercial sector.
Survey and interview results reveal the program is well received by former interns, exposed them to a new facet of horticulture and potential field of employment, helped shape their career goals, and provided mentorship and professional networking to assist in further success.
According to Matthew Lobdell, Head of Collections and Curator at The Morton Arboretum, "Internships are of critical importance to career development. For nearly 20 years, The Morton Arboretum has exposed Public Horticulture Interns to the diverse career options available at public gardens through an immersive 13-week program. Former interns working in the sector cite this experience as essential to clarifying their career goals. Those who chose other career paths still credit the program for generating a lifelong interest and advocacy in public gardens."
The complete article is available on the ASHS HortTechnology electronic journal web site:https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH04901-21
Established in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science is recognized around the world as one of the most respected and influential professional societies for horticultural scientists. ASHS is committed to promoting and encouraging national and international interest in scientific research and education in all branches of horticulture.
Comprised of thousands of members worldwide, ASHS represents a broad cross-section of the horticultural community - scientists, educators, students, landscape and turf managers, government, extension agents and industry professionals. ASHS members focus on practices and problems in horticulture: breeding, propagation, production and management, harvesting, handling and storage, processing, marketing and use of horticultural plants and products. To learn more, visit ashs.org.
