Jon Pfeifer’s Field of Dreams!
Jon Pfeifer is the Director of Buildings and Grounds at LSU. Jon is a lifelong athlete who knew his odds of getting a scholarship or playing professionally were slim. With a strong interest in chemical engineering, he decided the best path was to focus on his studies going into college. He spent four years studying chemical engineering before transitioning to LSU’s Ag/Horticulture School to narrow his focus to Plant Soil Science. With a strong background in mathematics and a love for LSU athletics, he decided this would be a great way to stay involved without having to be an athlete.
While working with LSU as the Director of Buildings and Grounds, Jon noticed the lack of diversity in applicants for these unique jobs within LSU’s Athletic Operations department. He was motivated to help make a change and expose a more diverse population to these opportunities. Working with LSU to help create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce, Jon partnered with 4H, a non-profit organization that works with over one hundred universities across the nation to give kids of all backgrounds an opportunity to express who they are while giving back to their community.
Working together with 4H and their Clover College program, Jon hosted eighteen students who were interested in learning about field turf to a one-day event. The goal of this event was to help combine math, science, and sports turf in a fun event for the students at 4H. One of the ways they teach is through a style of learning Jon called “edu-tainment”. This is their method to help educate the students, by doing activities they will find entertaining. This event included experiments such as the forty-yard dash, ball rolling, logo painting, and mowing patterns. Click here to watch a video about Jon Pfeifer and his day teaching students about his line of work.
The forty-yard dash experiment was a way to teach the students the difference between natural grass and artificial grass. By doing this, they were able to learn how the different types of grass affect how players move and run during games. The ball roll was another fun way to illustrate how different lengths of grass can affect a game. In a practical situation, a baseball or softball team that knows an opposing team hits a lot of ground balls can make sure the grass is taller in order to slow the ball down and make it easier for the defense to make a play. Jon also showed them the process of logo painting and the math process that goes into making sure the logo is in the right place and is symmetrical. For their final experiment, he showed the students how to make different mowing patterns on the field for sports such as baseball and softball. When you watch a baseball game, you can see that the outfield has different shaded patches of grass. This is done by using two different sides of a leaf blade when cutting the grass.
Jon said it was a great experience and opportunity to organize this day for the students in the 4H Clover College. After conducting these experiments and learning about the different ways the grounds crew can have an impact on the game, they will never watch a sporting event the same way. He hopes that through hosting this event and teaching the students at the Clover College about a part of sports they may have never known about, that he can help create a more diverse and inclusive applicant pool for this field of work.
