High school turfgrass adviser takes STMA’s top award

Andrew Miller, advisor for the Brentsville High School turfgrass management program, won the Sports Turf Manager Association's mowing patterns contest. Miller’s winning design at Donald Lambert Field in Nokesville, Va., is called "Nations Largest Classroom." (Photo: STMA)

Andrew Miller won the Sports Turf Manager Association’s mowing patterns contest. Miller’s winning design at Donald Lambert Field in Nokesville, Va., is called “Nation’s Largest Classroom.” (Photo: STMA)

Andrew Miller, adviser for the Brentsville High School turfgrass management program in Nokesville, Va., was named the winner of the Sports Turf Managers Association’s (STMA) mowing patterns contest.

Miller was selected via a Facebook voting contest for his intricate design at Donald Lambert Field, home to the Brentsville High School Tigers. Miller’s winning design, “Nation’s Largest Classroom” edged Ryan Nagy’s “Screwball” design by just a little more than 300 votes. This marks the second STMA competition that Miller has won this year. His “Friday Nights in Small Town USA” design won STMA’s ‘Stars and Stripes’ contest earlier this summer.

“Andrew and his students had an extraordinary 2019 winning Stars and Stripes and now the Mowing Patterns Contest. As the program advisor, he continues to increase awareness within the community and the sports field industry with his profound designs,” said Kim Heck, CAE, CEO of STMA. “His creativity sets a tremendous example for the young up-and-coming sports field managers in the Brentsville program.”

A graduate of Virginia Tech, with a degree in turfgrass management, he worked on the Virginia Tech grounds crew before moving on to the New York Mets. Following his stint in New York, Miller spent time in Pittsburgh at PNC Park with the Pirates before transitioning to Heinz Field to work for the Steelers. He then earned his Master’s in Agricultural Education from Virginia Tech and has been shaping leading students in the Brentsville program since.

The contest, in its seventh-annual mowing patterns contest, will honor Miller’s design with a custom poster featured at the 2020 STMA Conference & Exhibition (Jan. 13-16) in West Palm Beach, Fla.