​Event Provides Insight into Green Industry Jobs

Brillion, Wis. (March 2012) – Gravely® is supporting 2012 Student Career Days as a Silver Sponsor for the sixth consecutive year. The annual competition and networking event for students enrolled in green industry programs from colleges and universities across the country is organized by PLANET, the Professional Landscape Network. More than 800 students are expected to participate in this year’s event which will be held at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas from March 22 - 25.

“This event is a unique way to provide mentoring and an exchange of ideas between students and the many types of people working in the green industry. Student Career Days is an intense, fast-paced event that leaves you feeling energized about the future of the business,” says Bill Engler, Director of landscape Contractor Sales for Gravely. “These are the top students in programs around the country and the next generation of top green industry pros.”

Students will compete in more than 20 different events that include tree climbing, paver/hardscape installation, wood construction, plant identification, sales presentation, exterior/interior design, irrigation troubleshooting, personnel management, and small engine repair.

Gravely will sponsor the Truck and Trailer Event and the Sales Event. In the truck and trailer event, a team of students are given the opportunity to load a Gravely mower on a trailer and then drive an obstacle with the loaded vehicle. For the Sales Event, students must sell a landscape design project to clients. Both events provide a simulation of what it might be like to work in the green industry.

We will be giving away a Pro-Stance mower to a landscape contractor as part of a promotion which began in July at the PLANET Renewal and Remembrance event, ran through GIE+EXPO and ends with this event.

Established in 1933 in Brillion, Wis., Ariens Company is a leading manufacturer of outdoor power equipment for both consumer and professional use. The company’s premium international brands include Ariens Sno-Thro® and Ariens lawn and garden products for consumers; Countax® and Westwood® lawn tractors; and Gravely® and Parker® commercial equipment for the landscape management, facilities maintenance and sports field sectors. Ariens’ affiliates, Stens Corporation, J Thomas and Ariens Pty Ltd. (Australia), supply replacement parts to the outdoor power equipment industry. Ariens Company employs more than 1,400 people, with operations in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Indiana, Alabama, Michigan, the United Kingdom, Norway and Australia. Visit www.ariens.com for more information.

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