July 15, 2018
LO welcomes Lissa Schoot Uiterkamp
Lissa Schoot Uiterkamp
Lissa’s main focus is to promote the landscape and horticulture profession to youth through hands-on experiences, while also engaging and informing the education community on the many career paths available in the profession.
Lissa helps to run the Come Alive Outside Green Street Challenge, hosted by several communities across the province, and the Come Alive Outside Design Challenge — an event that sees students and teachers from various levels team up with landscape professionals to design and build engaging outdoor learning classrooms at schools or child care facilities.
While a student at Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, Schoot Uiterkamp and her classmates actually participated in the CAO Design Challenge. Their design for P.L. Robertson Public School in Milton, Ont., was chosen by the judging panel as the winning submission.
A few months after the competition, Lissa received an email with the job posting for the position with LO and CAO.
“I looked at it, and it was exactly what I wanted,” Schoot Uiterkamp explains. “I got the job and I was thrilled. Now now I’m working with kids and amazing industry professionals.”
Part of that work for Schoot Uiterkamp means continuing the work on that winning design, as she works closely with teachers at P.L. Robertson and Chris Mace of Gelderman Landscape Services to install the winning design at P.L. Roberston this summer.
“I’ve always gardened,” Schoot Uiterkamp explains. “My mom and dad are both in the horticulture industry. My dad grew up in Holland as a bulb inspector and my mom grew up in Canada, working for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.” Her parents met in a famous town in Holland called Lisse, which is where Schoot Uiterkamp gets her first name from.
In her spare time, Schoot Uiterkamp enjoys camping, kayaking and especially hiking the Bruce Trail with her parents.
“They are definitely the ones who inspired me,” Schoot Uiterkamp says, and now she hopes to spread that enthusiasm and love of plants and nature to a new generation of landscape professionals.