COD Students Win 'Come Alive Outside' Horticulture Design Competition

Four students in the College of DuPage Horticulture program recently won first place in the Come Alive Outside Design Challenge hosted by Come Alive Outside in partnership with Belgard, BOSS LM, Christy Webber Landscapes, Greenius, JP Horizons, The Kitchen Community and RYCO Landscaping.

The students, Jomarie Avino (Downers Grove), Jorge Castillo (Wheaton), Robert Fischer (Glen Ellyn) and Zachary Michinick (West Chicago), won for their design of a new outdoor learning environment at Hanson Park Elementary in Chicago.

Click here to view a video presentation of the student's winning design.

The Come Alive Outside Design Challenge enables teams of college and high school students to work together with landscape professionals to design and build outdoor learning environments at schools and childcare facilities.

Students from College of DuPage, Illinois Central College and Jolliet Junior College visited Hanson Park Elementary and worked with the students and teachers there to create initial ideas for the new space. The winning design was chosen by students at Hanson Park and judged by a panel of professionals according to a set of criteria for the space within an initial budget of $10,000, including encouraging interaction using all five senses, the integration of the creative output of the students and teachers who will use the space, the effective management and utilization of rainwater and the creation of a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

The winning design is scheduled to be built on the school grounds during spring and summer of 2017.

Come Alive Outside is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that works closely with partners in the landscape profession, as well as college horticulture and landscape architecture departments, to inspire collaborative community systems that create the awareness, intention and opportunity for people to live healthier lives outside.

The Horticulture program at College of DuPage offers Associate in Applied Science degrees in Horticulture; Landscape Contracting and Management; and Sustainable Urban Agriculture, as well as certificates in nine specialized areas, including floral shop management, green house management, power equipment and technology, sustainable landscapes and sustainable urban agriculture.

Click here for more information on the Horticulture program at College of DuPage.