TREE Press article: TREE Fund Scholarship Update

TREE Fund Scholarship Update

We are connecting with some of TREE Fund’s recent scholarship recipients to see how they are coming along in their studies and their careers.

Today, we feature Taylor Sirois, who received the Will Nutter Memorial Scholarship in 2023:

When I discovered the field of arboriculture as a freshman in high school, I had no clue that just four years later, I’d be continuing my studies in the beautiful Adirondack Park of New York. Now, as I start my second year as a dual major in Ecological Forest Management and Arboriculture and Landscape Management at Paul Smith’s College, I know there’s no better place — and no better set of majors — for me.

So far, my time at Paul Smith’s has been filled with endless opportunities to learn, grow, and explore. At Paul Smith’s, the great outdoors are your classroom — and I’ve taken advantage of every new experience that has been presented to me. Last year, as a freshman, I took a step out of my comfort zone in traditional sports and tried something new: the Woodsmen’s Team, where I developed a new passion for timber sports. I worked hard to develop new skills in chopping, climbing, crosscut, and more, and I eventually earned Rookie of the Year for my performance. Now, I’m the secretary of the team, and I’m looking forward to further developing my timber skills this year.

As an Ecological Forest Management major, my first year at Paul Smith’s did not end in the spring. Instead, I had the amazing opportunity to take part in a six-week summer session this summer. During the session, I was able to learn about field surveying, forest mensuration, and I even earned my Game of Logging I and II Certificates.

However, my learning experiences did not stop there. After the summer session, I stayed on campus to help start up a pilot program for arboriculture students to work on campus as student-workers, called the Urban Forestry Micro Crew. Throughout July, I worked with my arboriculture instructor and one other arboriculture student on about 50 trees throughout Paul Smith’s campus. This included removals of dead, hazardous, and diseased trees; pruning, such as the vista of the shoreline of our beautiful St. Regis Lake; and the clearance of walkways. All of these projects required me to use skillful techniques like rigging, climbing, and felling — and all of them desperately needed to be done.

Paul Smith’s has such a beautiful campus, with students learning so much in these wonderful programs — so it only makes sense for us to put our skills to good use. Because of our success this summer, the micro crew is expected to start up and employ students for the spring 2025 semester. Through this pilot program, I was able to improve my confidence and skills as an arborist. I am so proud that we were able to improve this beautiful campus that many of us call home, and I cannot wait to see where it takes the Arboriculture program.

As I enter the second month of my sophomore year at Paul Smith’s, I am ready to continue learning and making an impact in this wonderful community. Paul Smith’s is a place where love for hard work and the outdoors simply outshines traditional pursuits, and I am so lucky to call it home.