I’m an outdoors person. I discovered that MATC had the Landscape Horticulture program, and I made a career change. Being in the MATC program really got me started. I had some wonderful instructors who got me even more excited about trees.
Out on a limb, Johanna O’Boyle feels no fear.
As a certified arborist and owner of a tree care service, she routinely ascends bark-covered trunks more than 60 feet up into the air. Secured only by a safety harness, a belt and a weighted rope, O’Boyle navigates a labyrinth of branches, twigs and leaves.
“Many trees have been around for hundreds of years. Me moving around in them probably doesn’t affect them that much,” O’Boyle said. “If you trust the tree, it will trust you.”
For the past three years, O’Boyle, a Landscape Horticulture instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College, has competed in the International Tree Climbing Championship, a competition sponsored by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). The 2024 event was held in Savannah, Georgia.
“Johanna's participation in this prestigious event highlights her expertise and dedication to the field,” said Cassie Panaro, the former lead faculty of MATC’s Landscape Horticulture department.
O’Boyle finished 24th among the 35 female competitors at the Georgia event, held October 24-27, 2024. Steph Dryfhout of New Zealand was the female champion, while Stephanie Littenberg of the New York State Arborist Association, placed third — the highest American finisher.
It was the third year in a row that O’Boyle has qualified for and competed at the international contest. She previously competed in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2022, and in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2023. She has already qualified for the 2025 international contest in New Zealand.
Her victories in the Wisconsin Arborist Association female state championship — she finished first in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024 — qualified her for the international competition.
For O’Boyle, winning a title has never been a goal. She likes traveling to the events and has formed a camaraderie with her fellow international competitors.
“Some of these ladies are phenomenal, and they are all willing to share their expertise,” she said. “I set my own goals, and if I can hit them, I’m happy. Every time I go out there, I am hoping to improve.”
The competition events simulate working conditions of arborists in the field and test agility, speed and precision in tree climbing. Competitors are judged on skill, safety, their command of the tree, and how well they use their gear.
“These are skills that we have to demonstrate every day in tree care,” O’Boyle said. “You have to trust your gear. I also have a lot of mental checklists that I go through. I’m pretty cautious about what I do because I have a family. If self-preservation is not an instinct you possess, this might not be a job for you.”
O’Boyle has trusted and respected trees since she was a child, climbing them while growing up in the Fond du Lac area.
But she gained a new level of appreciation for trees after earning a Landscape Horticulture degree from MATC in 2017, starting her own tree care business in 2021, and competing in state, national and international tree climbing competitions since 2019.
O’Boyle didn’t realize tree care would be a job for her until she moved to Milwaukee when she was 19 years old. She worked several office jobs but yearned for a different work environment.
“I’m an outdoors person,” she said. “I discovered that MATC had the Landscape Horticulture program, and I made a career change. Being in the MATC program really got me started. I had some wonderful instructors who got me even more excited about trees.”
After earning her associate degree, she worked at a private tree care company for four years before starting her own company, Ursa Minor Tree Care, in 2021. She also became a part-time instructor at MATC that year.
“I benefited so much from the program at MATC,” she said. “I knew if a spot ever opened up to teach there that I would want to do it.”
That spot opened up in March 2024, and O’Boyle became a full-time instructor, teaching several classes in the associate degree program and almost all the courses in the college’s arborist apprenticeship program.
She actively works to get more women in the program. “This is still viewed as a pretty masculine career,” she said. “Of all the people working in the field right now, I believe only 13% are women.”
As an instructor and a tree care business owner, she stays current on the latest tree sustainability research. Trees help keep heating and cooling costs down, allow wildlife to thrive, and, some research shows, even lower crime rates in neighborhoods, she said.
“Wisconsin has very few tree removal regulations and unnecessary tree removal is very concerning,” O’Boyle said. “I think there needs to be more of a process. In my business, I won’t remove a tree unless they contain an invasive species or they present an imminent hazard.”
O’Boyle also is working to become an ISA board-certified master arborist. “It’s a higher level of professionalism,” she said. “It’s a place where I’d like to be.”
Find out more about MATC’s Landscape Horticulture program
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.