For Daria Newpher, her opportunities in the green industry after graduation could take her as close as her hometown to as far away as Austria. The possibilities are as plentiful and diverse as the plants she has studied and cared for in her time at Temple.
“I’ve always loved plants and have wanted to work with plants as much as I could. My view of what I could do with that interest has definitely changed over time,” said Newpher, who graduated in May with a degree in Horticulture, offered by the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. “Initially I thought about working in nurseries and greenhouses but as I’ve gone through the major, I fell in love with conservation and restoration — protecting areas for future generations and bringing areas back to the way they were meant to be. Exploring all of the different things I could do with plants is what drew me to the horticulture major.”
Newpher said the urban city setting of Temple Main Campus combined with the gardens and suburban nature of the Ambler Campus “was a great combination for me.”
“I like the city experience, but I also wanted to be among the plants and trees at Temple Ambler,” she said. “Tyler’s Horticulture program is very community-based. You’re able to really connect with the other students and the professors within the program. There are also special opportunities, such as learning and working in the Ambler Arboretum and the Greenhouse, experiences that I don’t think you often find elsewhere.”
According to Newpher, the Ambler Campus provides ample opportunity for hands-on experiences within the gardens.
“I love that we can use the outdoors as our classroom, especially in our identification classes, like woody plants and herbaceous plants. You are able to see the plants in person, touch them, smell them, really get to know their characteristics,” she said. “There is still a lot of restoration taking place following the tornado that hit campus in 2021 and it’s nice to be able to be a part of the transition from the storm to now, to be part of rebuilding the plant collection and re-planting trees.”
Hands-on learning, “I think helps keep it all fresh in your mind,” Newpher said.
“Sometimes retaining all of that information when you are not applying what you are learning can be hard. With this program, you’re hands-on with the plants all of the time,” she said. “That will be extremely helpful for future fieldwork. It’s also just nice to be able to see all of the interactions taking place in nature — plants, trees, birds, animals, insects, streams — just all of it working together.”
In her Woody Plant Identification class, Newpher said, students worked with real world clients to develop garden and property suggestions.
“It was nice to be able to collaborate as a group and work with the client to come up with ideas, to experiment with different plants and design possibilities,” she said. “We did something similar in our herbaceous plants class, but that focused more on developing garden plans. It gave us opportunities to determine the best locations for various types of plants and how they interact, which is very helpful.”
According to Newpher, the Ambler Campus and the Arboretum are a “tremendous resource for students year-round.”
“Seasonally, you get to experience a whole range of things,” said Newpher, who had the opportunity to work in the Collins Nursery of the Ambler Arboretum during the winter and early spring. “I like having the opportunity to work with the staff and learn firsthand about landscape management and what goes into maintaining the gardens.”
Newpher said she is particularly proud of the connections she’s made while at Temple “and how much I’ve learned and grown.”
“I have this deep well of stored knowledge that will certainly help me when in get in the field,” said Newpher, who also worked in the Tyler School of Art and Architecture Advising office during her time at Temple. “My Temple experience overall has been focused on community and collaboration. Temple is a great place to work with different people and see different perspectives — everyone has great ideas that you might never get exposed to otherwise.”
Degree in hand, Newpher said her career focus is now on “conservation and restoration field work.”
“While I was a student, I had the opportunity to intern at the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust. That was the first internship or job experience that I had where I was actually working in the field I’m interested in,” she said. “I worked directly with the team mitigating invasive species in addition to working on our own restoration plan, which we presented to staff — hopefully some of our recommendations might be used in future projects. It was interesting to see the work that they are doing there and be a part of it first-hand.”
Newpher’s next stop Post-graduation, Newpher has header overseas to put her skills to good use.
“I’m in Austria with a program called Worldpackers. I’m doing some work in the Austrian Alps in the herb garden for a farm-to-table at a hotel,” she said. “I jumped at the chance! When was I going to get another experience like this?”
In the Horticulture program, Newpher said, “We are able to really connect with our professors.”
“The program includes a lot of personalized attention, and you can in turn learn from their experiences in the field. I’m interested in conservation and restoration, but I’m also interested in public gardens,” she said. “After the summer in Austria, I’m interested in exploring opportunities at the Trexler Nature Preserve and Wildlands Conservancy in Emmaus. I think the program has prepared me for whatever comes next!”