The most colorful of all Penn State Extension programs is the annual flower trials field day. Held July 27 this year at the university’s Southeast Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Manheim, the array of flowers bursting with color was hard to miss. This year’s trials included 700 annual varieties and 200 perennials.
Notably absent was long-time director Sinclair A. Adam Jr., who died on April 9. Adam was an Extension educator and the flower trials director for nearly a decade. Adam had a lifelong passion for flowers. He worked in the floriculture industry and co-owned — with his wife, Kirsten — Dunvegan Nursery for 23 years. He also served as an adjunct professor at Temple University.
Replacing him as interim director is friend and colleague Krystal Snyder, who works out of the Northampton office. She and Adam became friends when she worked with him during her eight years in the floriculture industry. Snyder had a similar journey. She enrolled at Delaware Valley University fresh out of high school with the intention of majoring in math but switched to horticulture at the urging of a professor.
Her first job out of college was with a fertilizer company. She was also an adjunct professor at Delaware Valley University and has a master’s in plant science from Penn State. Snyder and Adam had long discussions about her desire to leave the industry for education. When an Extension position became available, he encouraged her to apply. She was hired in the spring of 2019.
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