Congratulations to Penn State’s Golf Course Turfgrass Management graduating class of 2010! On March 6, students within the program received their certificates in front of friends and family at the traditional graduation ceremony at the Nittany Lion Inn.

Families, friends and faculty gathered on Saturday to celebrate the 2010 graduating class. Guests were greeted with a slide show of images from the past two years and also a video of what the students thought about their time at Penn State and what the future holds for them (video to be posted soon to YouTube).

Highlighting the event was the student-chosen guest speaker Joe Hughes. Mr. Hughes is the General Manager and Head Golf Professional at the Penn State Golf Courses and also an instructor within the Golf Turf Management Program. Joe’s speech focused on the need to build strong relationships across all facets of the golf facility and highlighted the importance of family in your personal and professional life. Joe received a round of applause when he announced the pregnancy of his wife Dayna and the soon to be addition to his own family.

In addition to the rewarding of the Certificates, several students received scholarships for their hard work throughout the program. To learn more about the individual graduates, visit 2010 alumni section.

Penn State has been training professionals in the golf course turfgrass management industry since 1957.  With the graduating class of 2010, there are a total of 1570 alumni from the program.  Penn State alumni can be found throughout the world and some of the most prestigious golf courses around. This week, two of our alumni (William “Marsh” Benson and Brad Owen) can be found in Augusta, Georgia as they prepare Augusta National for The Masters.