TRUMBULL CAREER AND TECHNICAL CENTER Horticulture program blossoms at tech school

The students' speed and expertise have been recognized at competitions, their teacher said.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CHAMPION -- They still bring you flowers at Trumbull Career and Technical Center.
Teachers at the school pay $2 per week to get a bud vase assembled by horticulture students delivered to their classrooms. The fee covers the cost of the flowers.
"The idea originated from the advisory committee," said Raul Kemp, horticulture teacher at the school.
The 26 teachers who subscribe to the program trade the bud vases back every week. The students use various flowers, and each teacher paying for the service receives a new arrangement, with foliage and bows or ribbons framing the flowers.
Students make the arrangements each Tuesday and deliver them to classrooms each Wednesday.
The program started about four years ago.
Kemp said the idea was to give students an example of the work they may be doing in a floral shop. Arrangements change by season.
Students
Crystal Myers, 16, and a junior from Mineral Ridge High School, wants to go to college after graduation and create floral design at a florist shop.
In a recent class, Crystal carefully cut the flowers at an angle to allow the blooms to absorb more water and trimmed the foliage at a specific height to achieve the desired look.
"We make our own bows," she said. "We don't have a machine. We have to do it the old-fashioned way."
Crystal says the work gives her a chance to express her artistic side.
"I like it a lot," she said.
Crystal especially enjoys the variety that accompanies the work as opposed to some careers that are riddled with repetition.
"There's more variety and we work with different things every day," she said.
Recognition
Kemp said the students' speed and expertise is recognized at state competitions for career and technical students.
"They get 12 minutes to make a bud vase and make a bill out" at the competitions, Kemp said. "Our students always do really excellent at that because they're used to doing bud vases to a deadline."
Students also make other arrangements ordered by teachers and staff.
Lisa Miller, 18, a junior from Mineral Ridge, was creating a corsage for the 5-year-old daughter of a substitute teacher to wear to a special occasion.
Landscape design
Students also work in landscape design, learning the ins and outs of that business.
The students recently plowed a flower bed at Champion Middle School.
Kathryn Fatula, 16, a junior at Newton Falls High School, plans to pursue a career in landscaping.
"I like working outside," Kathryn said.
She's even lent her floral expertise to family members.
"My sister had me make a corsage for a party for work," Kathryn said. "I made it here and took it home to her."
Kemp said many of the students in the program are naturally artistic and easy to work with.
What's next
The instructor said the school hopes to expand the program, targeting schools throughout the county. Digital photographs would be taken of the arrangements available and then posted on a Web site. Orders from teachers, administrators and staff then could be placed and delivery arrangements made.
Some members of the public come into the horticulture department to buy different items in the spring, but school hours limit availability.
A program established online would build a new market rather than competing with shops where students hope to work upon graduation.