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Ashworth Takes Lifelong Learning to Heart12-18-03 | News
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn.?EUR??,,????'??+Sitting in a classroom with students less than one-quarter her age, Denise Ashworth feels quite comfortable in her pursuit of a PhD in broadcasting at the University of Tennessee. Ashworth, from nearby Greenville, Tenn. is 86. She worked as a landscape architect for the forestry department between 1979 and 1990. But education has seemed to be her lifelong pursuit. At 55 Ashworth got her first degree in horticulture at the University of Connecticut and a year later it was a master?EUR??,,????'???s degree. By the age of 60 she earned another master?EUR??,,????'???s degree, in landscape architecture, from the University of Georgia. ?EUR??,,????'??I never have to slow down and I don?EUR??,,????'???t think I?EUR??,,????'???d know how to do it,?EUR??,,????'?? Ashworth told LASN. ?EUR??,,????'??I think people got used to me doing things. I like to hike and stay involved in town, working with the county tourism board, watershed protection and helping out with the maintenance of the Appalachian Trails.?EUR??,,????'?? By her 89th birthday Ashworth will be ready to share her gardening knowledge by pursuing a career in broadcasting, preferably a home and garden show on television. On Wednesdays her gardening column appears in the Greenville Sun newspaper. ?EUR??,,????'??I?EUR??,,????'???m hoping for the possibility of landing an internship, but I have more course work to do first, so that will come in another year,?EUR??,,????'?? said Ashworth. ?EUR??,,????'??I love to write the column and people tell me what subjects they?EUR??,,????'???d like me to cover. I?EUR??,,????'???ve written several different types of articles including design and maintenance of gardens.?EUR??,,????'?? Tending gardens for more than 60 years, Ashworth used to own a bed and breakfast that had two acres of land. She misses that garden but can still tend to her small plot in front of her apartment. ?EUR??,,????'??I loved working as an assistant landscape architect for the Forest Service and got the chance to design some campgrounds,?EUR??,,????'?? said Ashworth. ?EUR??,,????'??I worked with visual resource management, did design trail mapping, prescriptions for timber and launched sites and trails.?EUR??,,????'?? She also got transferred to Mississippi for six months work detail and did some land reclamation at the White River National Park in Colorado; and helped design a handicapped trail in Georgia. In her work as a landscape architect Ashworth had to make several public presentations. She?EUR??,,????'???s also a member of Toastmasters, so she?EUR??,,????'???s familiar with public speaking which will help out in her broadcasting career.
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