Katie Heffernan on ISA Arborist Certification

As the latest edition of the Leaflet mentioned in the “Casey Trees News in Brief” section, two of our staff officially received their arborist certifications recently: Katie Heffernan and Josh Singer! We thought we should celebrate their efforts!

“I thought I aced it, actually,” Katie Heffernan said with a laugh. “I left the test with a lot of confidence in my understanding of the material. I didn’t end up acing it, but I was close.”

The certification is through the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), which has been providing professional development to the field of arboriculture for 20 years (but has been an active organization since 1924). It’s the first level of certification; later levels offer greater specialization into different areas, such as tree workers, climbers, and aerial lift specialists. The highest goal? To become a Board Certified Master Arborist.

But none of these tests are a cake-walk – “there’s a lot of information,” Katie said. “Roughly two-hundred-plus multiple choice questions, all on a big book issued by the ISA.”  That book, entitled the Arborists’ Certification Study Guide, covers a wide range of subjects within the field of arboriculture, often ones that many forestry workers aren’t exposed to. “As Casey Trees’ Arborist Auditor, my knowledge previously was specialized – this test, and the book and classes that accompanied it, really opened me up to things I wasn’t as comfortable with before: advanced tree pruning techniques, specific knots and their applications in tree climbing, advanced tree biology, a lot of safety procedures,” etc.

Katie and Josh took the test on June 27th of this year, and had to wait all the way until early August to find out their results. “Every day we’d come into the office and be like, ‘Did we get them yet?!’ We were a bit anxious for our results,” she said with a smile.

But in the end? “I’m really happy to have not only passed it, but to leave the classes feeling like I can do my job here better. My responsibilities often require me to talk with home owners about a variety of things, and with all of this new knowledge, I feel like I can communicate and connect better with people, and help them better connect with trees.”

Congratulations Katie and Josh, we’re proud of you!!

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