Mark Mackey, Nick Dunlap and Jamie Borowski are winners of the 2009 Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) Student Essay Contest.
"Congratulations to Mark, Nick and Jamie for their outstanding writing contributions," GCSAA President Mark D. Kuhns, CGCS, said. "Thanks to The Environmental Institute for Golf, GCSAA is able to reward our members working toward degrees with scholarship stipends as an investment in research beneficial to our industry."
Open to GCSAA members who are undergraduate or graduate students pursuing degrees in turfgrass science, agronomy or any field related to golf course management, the GCSAA Essay Contest accepts entries with a focus on golf course management.
The scholarship funding is provided by The Environmental Institute for Golf through the Robert Trent Jones Endowment.
Judges from the GCSAA scholarship committee select winners to receive scholarships and the first place entry may be published or excerpted in the association's official publication, GCM.
Mackey, a GCSAA student member from Columbia, Mo., is a first-year graduate student at the University of Missouri. He won the first place scholarship of $2,000 for his essay: “Keeping Amphibians on the Right Course."
Mackey detailed his research on salamanders in Highlands, N.C., in the essay, explaining how he worked hand-in-hand with golf course superintendents at 10 area golf courses and how the game of golf is helping promote the biodiversity of many organisms.
Dunlap, a GCSAA student member from North Liberty, Iowa, is a sophomore student at Iowa State University. He earned the second place grant of $1,500 for his paper: “Sewage Effluent and Its Use for the Irrigation of Turfgrass."
Borowski, a GCSAA student member from Galloway, Ohio, is an undergraduate student at Clark State Community College in Springfield, Ohio. He claimed the third place award of $1,000 for his writing: “Silicon Uptake Increases Performance of Improved Turfgrasses."
The Environmental Institute for Golf is the philanthropic organization of GCSAA and is a collaborative effort of the environmental and golf communities, dedicated to strengthening the compatibility of golf with the natural environment.
The Institute concentrates on delivering programs and services involving research, education and outreach that communicate the best management practices of environmental stewardship on the golf course.
