Ray W Bausick Green Industry Memorial Scholarship

I am an avid golfer whose passion for the quality of golf courses I play began at a young age. I played junior golf and spent my summers at the golf course, practicing and playing almost every day. In addition to experiencing the golf courses I played in my hometown, I was fortunate enough to see some of the most pristine courses around the country while traveling to watch my brother’s college golf team compete. Experiencing the difference between these top golf clubs and the local courses I played initiated my passion for the green industry. While playing junior golf, I gained experience as a caddy and first tee manager at Great Oaks Country Club in Rochester, Michigan. I also worked in the professional shop and at the bag drop at Naples Grande Golf Club in Naples, Florida in 2016. Before pursuing my degree in Golf Course Turf Management, I graduated from Michigan State University in 2019 with a degree in Communications. From there, I began a career in mortgage underwriting and was quite successful, but I always wondered how I could work in the golf industry. I began to realize that my true passion revolved around anything related to golf, which prompted me to consider working at a golf club on the maintenance side of the golf course operation, thinking that my 20 years of golf experience and passion for the game could go hand in hand with having a career overseeing and maintaining a golf course as a superintendent. Last summer, I left my job as a mortgage underwriter and joined the grounds crew at Bloomfield Hills Country Club in Bloomfield, Michigan to see if I would enjoy working the agronomy side of the industry. Working on a golf course felt like I was coming home and I fell in love with my new job after just a few days. I enrolled in the 2-year Golf Course Turf Management program at Michigan State University and anticipate a completion date of March 2024. Within this program, I jumped at the opportunity to intern with the grounds crew at Jupiter Hills Club in Jupiter, Florida. This has been an incredible experience as I put agronomic principles into practice daily, and applying concepts from my classes has been very fulfilling. Upon finishing the Turf program, my initial goal is to work as an assistant superintendent, where I wake up every day and head to the golf course. Ultimately, I plan to make a difference within the green industry by leading a successful team as a superintendent at a premier golf course, measured by the course's playability and a strong supportive environment. Not only is it essential to have the skills required to know when to mow, fertilize, cultivate, irrigate, etc., but it is also important to understand how a great golf course should play and what it should look like. As a golfer, I have an eye for this. My combined background in golf and communications, both educationally and working within professional teams, has provided me with a great understanding of how a golf course is run and equipped me with the necessary skills to lead a successful team and excel in the green industry. From my experience, a team with a great leader is more efficient than one with a leader who doesn’t seem to care for everyone. I look forward to leading an effective team responsible for increasing golfers’ enjoyment while they play the game I love and maintaining a great golf course that adds to their fun.

It feels like just yesterday I was racing off the bus with my sister, Willow, to our backyard to make mud and paint it on the exterior of the basement walls. We spent all the time we could outside, finding toads and creating an imaginary world where we cooked with mother nature’s materials. I believe deeply that these experiences and memories with nature contributed largely to my development and who I am now. My name is Ava Yon and I am 20 years old, studying landscape architecture at Michigan State University. This is my first year in the program, but my second year at MSU. Through my connections with nature at a young age, my fifteen years as a dancer, and search for creative outlets in my everyday life I found landscape architecture to check all of my boxes. Last year, March 27, 2022, I lost my sister, Willow. At twenty-one years old, she was taken by a drunk driver driving the wrong way on the highway in Grand Rapids, MI. Willow attended Kendall College for industrial design and would be graduating this spring. She was creative and outgoing, infectious around other people, always pushing others to try new things and be a better person. Since this incident, my life has changed astronomically. I’ve had to do a lot of challenging things like writing her obituary, battling the at-fault driver in court, and currently helping my mom beat breast cancer. Greatest of all, I have had to learn to live without my best friend. Through it all, I have been able to rely on my creative outlet in landscape architecture consistently. My days can be easily swallowed by post-traumatic stress and grief. If you know grief, you know that it is strictly paralyzing. Using my creativity helps me pull myself out. I truly love working in the studio and creating design concepts that relate to an environment. I find peace and joy in my time at school and work very hard to maintain my grades and quality of work. My drive to become a great landscape architect stems from my sister and the positive attributes she would have given to the world. I feel a responsibility and aim to increase the quality of life of those who are still able to live their lives here on earth. The world population recently reached seven billion people, a number hard to visualize. As populations increase, it is vital to implement plans that can handle such populations. My example of this is the highway systems in Grand Rapids not adapting to their increased population causing many disasters. How do we adapt to these vast increases in populations? Sustainability is the simple, broad answer. The importance of designs supporting the current generation without harming future generations. Successful designs are sustainable, and I strive to be a successful landscape architect. I will close this out by offering my greatest condolences to the reader, as I found that you just passed one year without Ray. I searched Ray Bausick, learning several things about him and who he was, and still is. I feel it is important to share that with you to know that this scholarship is truly keeping him in memory. Finding ways to honor and remember those lost is important, a reason why my family started a visual arts scholarship at my previous high school in honor of Willow, similarly. Willow gets me out of bed every morning and reminds me that little discrepancies do not make a bad day. I will forever use her legacy to make positive impacts throughout my career.

Growing up in Appalachia, nature was part of everyday life. I was taught to respect and nurture the land around me; ever since it has become a core value. Many of these lessons were to understand how to move with the terrain, like walking down a steep hill sideways to prevent slipping into the splits, as well as seeing Queen's Lace and giving this plant a wide radius to avoid chiggers. The valley taught me how to look for signs of large storms coming as the leaves showed their undersides before the storm hit. A gravel road snaked throughout the mountainous community leading to my home, following the path into the open space. There our home sat on a small hill with a large pasture directly behind it. The only thing separating our home, the great prairie, and the tall mountain was a winding creek created by the mountain runoff. I lived in a poverty-stricken community during my primary years. Still, nature was always there for the adventures my imagination could conjure. We were hiking in the mountains, swinging on the handmade tree swing, playing "drive-thru" with our bikes on our small porch, climbing in the thick, lush shrubs, and going down to the creek to engineer the loudest dam I could. Creating something from inspiration and my imagination brings me great joy and peace. Learning that there was a career in designing landscapes for under-served communities and people with disabilities immediately grabbed my attention while studying public horticulture and landscape design at the University of Tennessee. Creating accessible landscapes for many has become a great passion of mine. A notable amount of this ambition has come from my observations throughout my formative years. For example, my church's congregation included people with mobility aids, visually impaired members, and those with memory complications. I observed their interaction with the gorgeous landscape around us, acknowledging the lack of design or thought put into who would be utilizing the land. As time progressed and I met my best friend, she became disabled due to a traumatic brain injury. As she navigated her new obstacle, I wanted to be as accommodating as possible. Having her visit me here at MSU, and ensuring I could find the closest parking accessible for mobility aids, was an immediate thought. Recalling these memories helped me realize how critical accessible landscapes are. Another moment of impact was volunteering at the senior living and memory care facility, where I saw how plants could have one of the quietest residents, telling me what plants they used to grow and their favorites to admire. Seeing the information I acquired from my public horticulture class put into effect was astounding. Witnessing the immediate impact of landscapes confirmed how much I want to be a part of the design process. My goal is to leave a positive environmental impact for future generations to enjoy along with the generations here today. Whether having the opportunity to work in national parks to help with trails, preserve the environment, or regenerate damaged land. The endless opportunities landscape architects have fostered my passion for designing. I look forward to leaving a beautiful legacy of creativity in nature.