Our Pasco High Flower Shop is part of the Pasco 49ers FFA (Agriculture Club) and the Pasco Vocational House (which the construction class builds) as they make flower arrangements for the real estate open house and help with potted flowers and landscaping each year. Floriculture Competitions and events are available through the FFA club.
With holidays like Valentine’s Day coming up, the PHS Flower Shop and Floriculture classes have started working together to compose ideas to sell for the upcoming holiday. I spoke with Mrs. Smith, who is the head of the PHS Flower Shop and the amazing teacher of her Floriculture classes, and we went over what to expect for Valentine’s Day. In previous years, the PHS Flower Shop accepted only cash or checks, but this year Mrs. Smith said, “We should be able to take cards this year.” This is something new for the Flower Shop and makes it easier for students and staff who don’t usually carry cash with them and are hoping to purchase something on the spot.
During the interview, I asked Mrs. Smith why students and staff should buy from the school compared to our local grocery stores. She said, “We try to make our prices reasonable, because we’re more concerned about students being able to get hands-on learning. And then when you do make a purchase, you’re buying flowers that your friends made.” Floriculture is more than just handling flowers; students are also learning industry-standard skills. “Although I have the floral design skills, I lean on my students for what’s cool via social media,” said Mrs. Smith, “so although we’re doing product development, we’re also looking at customer service skills, cash handling skills, those types of things that it takes to run a business, especially a retail business.”
The flower shop takes preorders from many teachers for large arrangements, but it doesn’t take preorders from students. But, if you’re a student looking to buy from the flower shop, you can visit Mrs. Smith in the greenhouse and speak with her there. Mrs. Smith said, “We will have a booth in the student mall, at least 2 days before Valentine’s Day.” So, if you are looking forward to buying something for Valentine’s Day, be sure to mark your calendars for February 11th-13th.
Be sure to look in all the right places and be ready to pick the products you like first. A follow-up statement from Mrs. Smith on where students can go, or where they can look if they want to purchase something from the Flower Shop: “So they can look for us during both lunches in the student mall, or they can come to my room and see products here as well.”
If you are a student who has an interest in learning how to work with plants or industry-standard skills in the floral business, joining the PHS Flower Shop could be your first move. “Come by and talk to me at anytime,” said Mrs. Smith, “I am here most Fridays after school, but they’re welcome to stop by, and if they want to actually take the class, that would be a counselor question.”
If you have any further questions, they meet often on Fridays after school for “Floral TEAM Fridays” to plan for upcoming sales and work on our design skills in case students want to enter the FFA floriculture competitions. For more information, you can also connect with Mrs. Lambert (Agriculture Science) and Mr. Munden (Metals/Welding), who are also FFA advisors.
