Meet the 2020 Designers

For the second year in a row, we are proud to offer $1,000 scholarships to the following two students at the UF/IFAS School of Forest Resources and Conservation in Plant City to help design and prepare the Fox Squirrel Corn Maze. 

1. Betty A Morris
   Betty is a full-time Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) with a multidisciplinary engineering firm located in downtown Orlando, Florida. She has been with the firm for over 20+ years. Betty tells us “The Geomatics program builds on my years of GIS experience and has introduced me to numerous interrelated technical disciplines within this field of study. Working on the Fox Squirrel Corn Maze has utilized surveying skills, photogrammetry, Computer Aided Drafting (CAD), GIS, and the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS, drones)”. Betty is currently pursuing a degree in Geomatics and plans to graduate in Spring of 2021. 
2. Tim C. Jaskiewicz
   Tim is a full-time professional surveyor and is in the process of being trained for management. Tim is currently pursuing a degree in Geomatics and plans to graduate in the Spring of 2021. After graduation, he plans on continuing his education and obtaining his Master of Science in Management. 

In May, Janet Futch contacted the Plant City campus to offer scholarships to the Geomatics students again this year. After a week with no takers, Janet reached out to Tim and Betty personally and asked if they would consider doing the maze for 2020.  During this time, the COVID-19 was in full pandemic mode which caused them to start a month later compared to last year. Because this would extend their Senior Project data collection time frame, Tim and Betty had to coordinate with their Advisors. After receiving the go-ahead from the school, they started working with Janet to draft up possible designs for the maze. 

In June, the Hillsborough County Farm Bureau became the Sponsor and the maze design was finalized and approved. Tim tells us, “This year’s design was solely performed by Betty, and she did an excellent job of balancing creativity and client satisfaction. Hillsborough County Farm Bureau, the ultimate sponsor, wanted the full name within the maze, that proved to be a challenge.” On July 3rd, Tim and Betty began the flagging process. Betty tells us “This year we had our most ambitious maze design and all of us knew it was going to take more people than just Tim and me. We reached out to our classmates for help and Lisa Olson (Geomatics undergraduate), and Ali Gonzalez-Perez (Geomatics Ph.D. student) and his son Omar, volunteered their weekend to help us out.” After combining everyone’s hours as of mid-August, they’ve invested well over 100 hours again this year. 

While there is still a lot more work to be done and plans to be finalized before opening day, we are incredibly thankful for all the hard work Betty and Tim have put in so we can embrace the maze’s challenge this fall.

For up to date information on our Plant City Fox Squirrel Corn Maze, please check our website. www.FoxSquirrelCornMaze.com