Informational Interview with Matthew Ross, Director of Continuing Education at Longwood Gardens

By Jen Schmidt, Conviron Scholar

Name: Matthew Ross
Position:Director, Continuing Education at Longwood Gardens
Degrees: Bachelor of Science, Horticulture Science, Master of Science, Horticulture Science

I had the opportunity to interview Matthew Ross, the Director of Continuing Education at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Longwood Gardens provides a number of informal educational courses every year. Some count towards requirements for Floral Design and Landscape Design certificates, while other are simply meant to be a fun way for the general public to learn about flowers. I’m interested in informal education, as opposed to academia, so I was really excited to talk to Matthew.

I compiled a little chart below with some key roles he has in his position along with some necessary skills he needed to do his job well. I focused on non-academic skill requirements because those are the skills I tend not to focus on as much when I’m preparing for potential careers.