Growing Interns

This year marks the fifth year that the JC Raulston Arboretum Board of Advisors will match donations during NC State University’s annual Day of Giving on March 26. Their why? Providing summer internships for the next generation of horticulturists, botanical educators and nursery industry professionals.

The matching challenge is growing results. Since the Day of Giving matching gift challenge began, donors have contributed $1.065 million in outright and planned gifts to the JCRA. Because of these funds, JCRA Director Mark Weathington has been able to support critical projects and areas of greatest need in the gardens and educational programming, including an expansion of the intern program. 

“Since the board started their Day of Giving match challenge, we have been able to grow our summer intern program from four students per summer to nine students in 2024,” Weathington says. “We also expanded our use of student support throughout the academic year.”

Horticulture and education interns dig in at the JCRA. Working alongside the arboretum staff, they are an integral part of preserving and cultivating one of the nation’s premier plant collections. 

“They get hands-on experience in landscape management, plant production, and public horticulture, and work with adult and youth education, nonprofit management, and communications,” Weathington says. 

The experience is vital to interns’ and students’ development in the industry. During their time in JCRA programs, interns learn greenhouse propagation techniques and work with the best plant breeders in North Carolina. Their training includes everything from constructing plant beds to vital experience managing a public garden. Former interns go on to be leaders in the field and the industry.

“The JCRA is a place that brings people together and trains future horticulturists to get out in the world,” says David Hoffman, chief executive officer of Hoffman Nursery and former JCRA intern who majored in horticultural science at NC State. “I’m thrilled to see how the intern program has grown over time. Students get to touch every part of the 10 acres.”

Alumna Heather Rollins, an expert gardener at Fairview Garden Center and Nursery who also majored in horticultural science, agrees. “Both NC State and the JC Raulston Arboretum have played a significant role in shaping my education and career,” she says. “I’m honored to serve on the board of advisors as we work to uphold its mission: To diversify the landscape by sharing our passion, our plants and our knowledge to plan — and plant for a better world.”

The free public garden, located between NC State’s main campus and the N.C. State Fair Grounds, is home to a collection of nearly 10,000 taxa of herbaceous and woody plants. Beyond its academic programs for interns and NC State students, it offers extensive public programming from children’s camps, school visits, plant sales, symposia and its signature event, Moonlight in the Garden. 

Donor Janice Swab, professor emerita of biology at Meredith College, was one of JCRA’s first members and frequently still takes biology students to JCRA as she did during her tenure.

“Supporting interns in the summer and giving them hands-on experience during the summer has been one of the best things I’ve been able to do as a donor,” she says. “JCRA is largely self-supporting with gifts, and they depend on folks to support their work so they can continue programming for students and the public. I really encourage people to give –  the amount is less important than the connection you will feel to the gardens.”

NC State Day of Giving is March 26. With the JCRA board’s matching challenge, your support will go further and directly support the development of tomorrow’s horticulture and garden workforce. When the JCRA General Fund receives 287 gifts, the JCRA Board of Advisors will award $24,000 in bonus funds to the JCRA General Fund. In addition to the internship support, it helps keep the JCRA free and open to the public.

“Plants can make your life better,” says Hoffman. “Institutions like the JCRA help to fulfill that mission and show people how it’s done.”

This post was originally published in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.