Hinkle Wins 2011 AFE Scholarship

Amy Hinkle, the 2011 GPN/Nexus Intern of the Year has been selected as the winner of the American Floral Endowment’s BioWorks IPM/Sustainable Practices Scholarship. Students were evaluated on the basis of sound academic performance and a grade point average of 3.0 or better.

Hinkle will be a senior at Penn State University where she is majoring in horticulture science with a minor in agribusiness management. Her special interests are in Floriculture, Greenhouse Management and Retail Horticulture.

This summer, Hinkle has been working at Tschetter’s Flowers in Oskaloosa, Iowa, a small, family run, floral farm that grows specialty cut flowers. Hinkle manages the field crew three days a week and delivers flowers to florists two days a week.

In January, Hinkle was named GPN/Nexus Intern of the Year. This honor was granted to Hinkle after her AFE-paid internship at Bear Creek Farms in Oklahoma.

“Being named GPN/Nexus Intern of the Year is an honor that has opened the door for me to make numerous networking connections with many influential people in the horticulture industry that will last a lifetime,” says Hinkle.

Hinkle will complete her undergraduate studies this spring. She hopes to work full time in the greenhouse or cut flower segments of the industry. Eventually, she would like to open her own specialty cut flower farm.