Aaron King and Eli Church, students from Avery County, N.C., were part of the team that won he inaugural National Turfgrass Science Invitational at the 2025 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show. King also placed first in individual competition, with Church placing second. Photo by Darrell J Pehr.
A team of FFA members from Avery County, N.C., won the top team award at the inaugural National Turfgrass Science Invitational Wednesday at the 2025 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show.
The competition was the first-ever National Turfgrass Science Invitational, an FFA Career Development Event. Teams of agricultural science students from across the country showed off their skills in both classroom and field events. Each team had four high school FFA members. The 60 students came from Alabama, Arizona, California, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
The first- and second-place individual winners also were from the Avery County FFA team. Aaron King was first and Eli Church took second.
Alice Powell from Fallbrook Union High School in Fallbrook, Calif., took third in the individual competition.
Second place in the team category was captured by the Fallbrook Union High School FFA members and the Gila Ridge FFA team from Yuma, Ariz., was third.
Members of the team from Avery County, N.C., were excited about the prospects of using their knowledge in the competition. Coached by FFA Adviser Dewayne Krege, the team was made up of King, Church, Preston Burnop and Finley Trivett.
Krege said while North Carolina does not yet have a statewide turfgrass science competition, his team members had experience competing in FFA events on topics like horticulture, agricultural mechanics and nursery/landscape.
For the Avery County FFA Chapter, turfgrass is an important component of the curriculum, with Krege leading turfgrass science learning since 1999. The program has developed its own putting green and turfgrass plots to aid in student learning. Learning focuses on a wide array of golf course maintenance topics, from best management practices to equipment maintenance.
Competition for the FFA teams began Tuesday morning with a 100-question knowledge test and case studies at the Marriott Marquis followed by a skills practicum at Marbella Country Club in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., which tested their knowledge on topics ranging from turf identification and soil moisture measurement to green speed calculation using a Stimpmeter.
The skills practicum challenged their ability to identify turfgrass, equipment and inputs, calibrate and operate spreaders, set tee markers and even provided students with a chance to cut cups on a green and take on other playing surface set-up techniques.
Similar competitions have been contested at the state level in some areas, but this is FFA’s first national competition. GCSAA is collaborating with both FFA and the USGA to give high school students a chance to learn about the career opportunities in the turf industry. Carson Letot, Ph.D., served as superintendent of the event. Letot is a faculty member at Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, N.C., and program coordinator for the USGA's Greenkeeper Apprenticeship Program.
Also partnering with the organizers was John Deere, which helped provide support for the competition.
Also collaborating with GCSAA and FFA is the Sports Field Management Association, which will alternate with GCSAA in hosting the competition at each association’s annual conference: SFMA will host in 2026 and GCSAA will host again in 2027.
Darrell J. Pehr is GCM's science editor