Urban Forestry Completer Already a Professional

Scott Lilly’s tagline for Lilly Lawn Service says it all. Professional Attitude, Professional Equipment, Professional Job. Lilly is a 2003 Roosevelt graduate, a completer of the Compact’s Urban Forestry and Landscape Horticulture Career Program and a 2006 graduate of Tri-C’s Plant Science & Landscape Technology with an Associate of Applied Science degree.

Lilly, 24, grew up in the landscaping business and worked six years part-time for his dad, contractors and garden centers. Now, he has spent six years working full-time to build his business. He has paid cash for a dump truck, trailer, skidder and other equipment.

Lilly runs two crews in the summer, one headed by brother Justin, a 2007 Urban
Forestry completer and current Tri-C student. Mike Boyd, a 2003 Hudson completer, works for Lilly and as a firefighter/EMT for the Brimfield Fire Department. “Scott is the hardest
working guy I know,” Boyd says.

Advertising is limited to referrals, the lettering on Lilly’s trailer and a website still in
progress, but business is good. He just finished a $25,000 “outdoor living area” in a
Cleveland suburb, complete with stone patio, seating and lighted columns.
Urban Forestry was a “wonderful experience,” Lilly says. Teachers John Lang and Tom Franek bring hands-on experience, bridging the gap between the book way and the real way.
At Tri-C, Lilly says much of his coursework was strictly a review. “I had a major head start,” he says. “In fact, the professors asked me to help teach. I was able to test out of classes.”