Mays selected as Winter Commencement speaker

Mays has worked as Chadron State College’s public horticulturist since 2006. Mays’ work at CSC has included designing and planting landscapes, and working with maintenance crews, volunteers, and student workers. This group of groundskeepers creates and maintains CSC’s 281-acre campus landscape.

“I’m proud to see some of those hard-working students in the graduating class,” Mays said.

Additionally, Mays teaches plant care workshops, appears on radio gardening shows in Nebraska and Wyoming, is CSC’s representative to the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, and is a member of the Chadron City Parks Foundation Board.

Before moving to Chadron, Mays was a designer and curator for Callaway Gardens in Georgia, and for nine years hosted segments for the PBS television show, The Victory Garden. For many years, she lectured nationally and contributed articles to Southern Living magazine.

Since Mays joined CSC during the tumultuous time of the Spotted Tail Wildfire of 2006, she’s worked intentionally to influence the campus landscape.

“My intention has been to develop a landscape that invites students and staff to enjoy their time on campus, provides quiet, shady spots to relax at between classes, and serves as an inspirational teaching collection,” Mays said.

In recognition of her work to improve the beauty and functionality of the campus green space, Mays received the Jim Kluck Honor Award in 2016. The award is intended to recognize individuals who have made a significant contribution to the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum or its affiliates. Her efforts throughout the CSC Arboretum include the establishment of native and pioneer plants near the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center, the bioretention plantings near the Coffee Agriculture Pavilion, and a pollinator-friendly living fence near the Eagle Ridge student housing complex.

Among her other awards, is the 2010 Nebraska State Forest Service’s Educator/School Award. She earned it for leading more than 500 volunteers in a post-fire replanting of 12,000 conservation trees on C-Hill. The same year, CSC’s Arboretum received the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum’s Affiliate Site Award in recognition of public gardens demonstrating excellence in collection development, maintenance practice, and community engagement.

In 2021, Mays received the Conservation Award for Natural Resources Education from the Upper Niobrara White Natural Resource District for her community outreach including organizing the CSC Campus Arboretum Volunteers and leading the annual greenery swag day where prunings from campus evergreens are used to make winter decor for the college. Throughout the years, she also organized tree care workshops featuring presenters from various organizations to educate the public about pruning techniques and soil supplements.

A native Nebraskan, Mays graduated from Kearney High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education degree from University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1979 and a Master of Arts in Education degree from Chadron State College in 2005.

—Tena L. Cook, Marketing Coordinator