Hawthorn Hollow Nature Center and Arboretum is a 90-acre center focused on environmental education, stewardship and local heritage. Hosting more and more field trips and events every year, this local non-profit welcomes Gateway Technical College's faculty and students in their efforts to bolster its funding through grant-writing and to beautify the different areas of the center.

"We partner with Gateway often, using interns for grant-writing, our newsletters and more. Their horticulture faculty bring students in to work on plant beds, landscaping, irrigation projects and more. We’ve even hired some of those interns after they graduate," says executive director TJ Levenque.

"We welcome any opportunity to partner with Gateway. We see eye- to- eye with so many folks there."

Students from the college bring a unique perspective to this community partner.

"Many of the Gateway students are really motivated. And, for a lot of them, it's different, because Gateway students aren't always traditional college students. They're not necessarily coming right out of high school. They might be later in life, figuring out what they want to do, and there's a lot to be said about working outdoors here," says TJ.

"Gateway's horticulture faculty walk around our grounds and collaborate with us to improve our operations and to make this space beautiful. The students learn a lot through that process. And the instructors are so knowledgeable and easy to work with too."

Gateway's faculty continue to collaborate with TJ and Hawthorn Hollow to find new and innovative ways to improve their operations, which also gives students hands-on learning experience that enhances their college experience.

"Gateway's faculty came out to our heritage farm site last year and saw we had an irrigation issue. I had no idea there was a better way to do things, but they did," said TJ. "Over a summer, they were able to come out with a couple different classes, give those students the experience of installing irrigation, and Hawthorn Hollow is going to benefit from that moving forward.

"We even had one arboriculture student from Gateway come to work on certifying our arboretum. He did a great job for us."

Hawthorn Hollow only wishes to see this relationship with Gateway continue to bloom.

Working outdoors is one of the best things you can do, in my opinion. It's fun, and there's a change of scenery everywhere you go."