Jay Curry Eternal Garden Scholarship

Since I was old enough to dig my fingers in the ground, I knew plants were to be mine. There is enchantment in a seedling taking root, in a bed of bare ground transformed into living tapestry, or a dying flower being reborn with kindness. Horticulture brings me peace, I find it's my refuge. When childhood had been unstable, with the weight of my parents' mental illness and my depression, the garden was where I learned quiet. Plants are complex, they have different needs that you have to learn. Growing a plant takes patience, dedication, and genuine love. Caring for them, I learned to care for myself. My passion for this work extends beyond respect, it's a lifeline. While other kids were drawn to sport or art, I found solace in the cadence of pruning, planting, and propagating. Throughout high school, I volunteered at a local conservation trust, where I realized that landscaping is not just about aesthetics, it's about creating spaces for healing. A garden that is well cared for can lift one's spirits, unite people, and even aid in recovery. This realization made me more determined to pursue horticulture as a career. I've since grasped every possibility for learning, from personal projects to handheld landscaping labor, driven by the belief that such work matters. My character is my unwavering dedication. A childhood spent around mentally ill parents was a lifestyle of uncertainty, but it developed in me resourcefulness and pliability. Depression made even crawling out of bed a task once, but I forced myself out into the garden because I understood it would calm me. That same discipline carries me now, whether studying late or laboring in the summer heat to perfect a landscape design. I don’t shy away from hard work; I thrive on it. Financial barriers have also presented a challenge. Compared to more conventional career paths, horticulture scholarships are scarce and difficult to find, and education expenses, especially specialty training, are daunting. This scholarship would help relieve that, allowing me to focus solely on building my craft and making meaningful contributions to this work. Ideally, I'd like to combine horticulture with therapeutic practices, designing healing green spaces for at-risk populations, particularly those that have been touched by mental illness or addiction. Jay Curry's story resonates with me on a personal level: his pride in staying sober, his dedication to creating something beautiful, his impact on his community. Like him, I hope that my work will leave the world in a better state than when I entered it. With this scholarship, I will be that much closer to realizing that dream.

My name is Robert Rodriguez, born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and currently enrolled at San Antonio College studying architecture or more specially landscaping architecture. I am a full-time student but also at the time working and building my own landscaping and lawn care business on the side. I started my passion for landscaping when I started working with my father in his own company, South Texas Landscaping. However, during his time, he went through a tough divorce with my mother and had to move out from our family house and I had to help him out with doing yards and installations for his clients he had at the time. All with having to provide for my siblings at the time with no house to live in and stay at a hotel. My dad was his own boss and the only employee he had at the time, so I had to help him out and get whatever job we were brought to done, whether it was installing mulch in the Texas heat being 100 degrees or cutting yards in 30-degree weather. While working with him, I developed a hard-working mindset and determination to get jobs done no matter what and met many people from different career paths and international people, being the clients we worked for. With our work, we were able to afford a house for my dad and my siblings and I to live in. However, sadly my dad was an alcoholic and gotten in some trouble with DWIs and went to jail a lot making me and my siblings move back with our mother. We now moved from our old family house to a new house located in the Northeast part of San Antonio. Living with my single mom and 2 other siblings, I had to pay for school and help with bills. So, I decided to start my own landscaping business around my neighborhood and started just like every other business does, knocking on doors and selling myself. I started off slow but preserved with a bunch rejection and the Texas heat again. However, some people gave me a chance and so I showed off my work and they loved it. More people will give me a chance to cut their yards and start to get clients. However, I didn’t have transportation at the time, so I had to do the classic push everything in a wagon method but like I said earlier, I developed the mindset of having to accomplish any mission put upon me no matter what and give 110% in whatever job I had to do. Later, building my company, I was able to communicate better with strangers and develop good client relationships and upgrade my tools. I also now have many clients ranging all around town and do most of my jobs on the weekends or if needed on the week days will send one of my helpers to get the job done. Now I help other guys who struggle in finding jobs and give them jobs to help me with in my company. An example is my partner, a dad and young adult trying to find a job. He helps me with transporting my tools and helps me with whatever jobs I got and do them right and better every single time. I now balance school, part time job at Academy Sports and Outdoors, my business, hobbies and continue to help my family and volunteer for others however way I can. My business is name is Mr.R services and provide lawn mowing, edging, weeding, tree trimming and clean up services.