Mike Albert - '06 Landscape Architecture Graduate

Raymond & Charlotte Kays Endowed Scholarship

It’s hard to believe that someone from the Oklahoma panhandle would have an interest in working with anything green.

“People don’t think about beautiful terrain or landscaping when they think about the panhandle other than the occasional tumbleweed that blows across the road,” said Mike Albert, recent landscape architecture graduate.

Yet, as one of the most highly honored and decorated landscape architecture students to enter OSU’s program, this Beaver, Okla. native discovered his passion by accident.

“I kept bugging my parents for money in high school, and my mom told me I could earn it by mowing lawns throughout the summer,” recalls Albert.

His mother had no idea what this simple venture could mean for Albert’s future career.

Summer ended and four thousand dollars later, Albert reinvested the money into his own home-based business selling plants, first to local residents and eventually to customers in three different states.

“I fell in love with the diversity of the field and gained a real appreciation for the simplicity of the natural environment,” said Albert.

Thus began an unbelievable adventure for this small town Oklahoma boy that would end with visits to over 20 countries, receiving three prestigious national and international internships and landing a position with one of the most reputable resort planning firms in the country.

All these accomplishments were attained while maintaining a 4.0 GPA and because of the generosity of others, like the Kays family.

Renowned horticulturist Professor Raymond Kays pioneered the horticulture department at OSU as department head for nearly 14 years. He taught 17 different courses, from food preservation to botanical systematics, reflecting his tremendous breadth of horticultural knowledge. Kays forged new horizons with the use of television to communicate horticultural information. In the 1970s, he had the only 30 minute prime-time extension gardening television show in the country, Oklahoma Gardening. Avid gardeners since childhood, Charlotte and Raymond’s love of horticulture didn’t stop with themselves. All four of their children, Judy, Stanley, Nancy, and Barrett, embraced all levels of horticulture growing up and continue their involvement in horticulture today.

Judy Kays Thomas and Mike Albert, William Raymond & Charlotte Wheatley Kays Scholar

Upon Raymond’s death in 1995, his family established an endowed scholarship in honor of his and Charlotte’s love of gardening. This $5,000 a year scholarship is provided to horticulture juniors or seniors that show creative and promise for their future in horticulture. And Mike Albert is certainly no exception.

“Mike is exceptional, charming and amazing,” remarked Judy Kays Thomas. “While each student who’s held the scholarship has different personalities and interests, Mike has proven to encompass all those qualities that make him a natural to succeed tremendously in this business.”

Albert first met Judy at a horticulture awards program in fall 2005 where he enjoyed hearing about the family and the scholarship that made his senior study possible.

“It’s so awesome to see how donors are motivated to give, and to meet the people who have made it happen,” he commented. “This is such a close family, and I’ve been touched by their generosity on all levels. One day I even received a horticulture research book in the mail from [ Stanley] in Georgia, just out of the blue. That people would nurture you and help you grow in your profession is truly inspiring to me.”

While Albert’s studies and internships have led him to countries like Thailand, India and Poland, he’s opted to begin his career a little closer to home. After fielding job offers from Boston to Fort Lauderdale, he accepted a position with Design Workshop in Aspen, Colo. to begin his career in cold resort planning this September.

So did he convince his mother that landscaping was a worthy investment?

“Yes, but she still won’t let me work in her garden,” he laughs.

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