Three Students Receive 2017 Altman Family Scholarship

Jennifer Zurko

The American Floral Endowment has named three students as recipients of the 2017 Altman Family Scholarship. Each student will receive $5,000 in funding from this scholarship.

The Altman Family Scholarship was created in 2015 by Ken and Deena Altman (owners of Altman Plants) and assists in funding the education of floriculture graduate students (MS or Ph.D.) who will become leading floricultural scientists and educators.

“It was difficult to narrow down to just one winner, since the applicants were very impressive this year,” said Ken. “There were a record number of applicants and they were extremely well-qualified. Our industry’s future is in good hands with these outstanding students.”

• Travis Higginbotham is currently pursuing a master's degree in horticulture and will subsequently obtain his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech. In addition, he’s working full time as the Research and Development Manager at Battlefield Farms.

• Nathan Jahnke is a graduate student at North Carolina State University working toward a master’s degree in horticultural science.

• Emily Teng is pursuing her Ph.D. in Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. GT