Area students compete in Washington County FFA Floriculture Career Development event
McGuffey future farmers of America, from left, Logan Janovitch, Alexa Wilson, Gracie Stagon, Dacia Jones and Trevor Maxwell
Trinity Future Farmers of America, from left, Ensley Clark, Summer Ames, Hannah Jones, Chloe Tamulinas and Delaney Slesh.
Four Washington County FFA Chapters met in November at McGuffey High School to compete in the 2019 Floriculture Career Development event. With 35 participating students, there were seven teams, including two from Avella, one from H.G. Parkinson, Fort Cherry, two from McGuffey, and two from Trinity. Each team was comprised of four or five students, each participating individually and as a team in the competition.
The Floriculture Career Development event is a competition to test students’ knowledge on various plants, design techniques and floral industry practicum. This county level event involved five rigorous parts for students to challenge their peers. The first part of the day was a written test on our knowledge of many aspects of floriculture industry, including little known facts to surprise and challenge the competitors.
Students were tested about greenhouses, plants, and several flowers and plant identification which tested the ability to name various plants and flowers based on their appearance.
The third part involved various tools used in the floriculture industry. An individual project kept students engaged by constructing a pin on corsage with given materials. The corsages were judged based on size, color and overall wearability. After lunch, group projects began.
Each group was given separate tasks with the mindset of an actual floral shop. The arrangements included a door decoration, a fourier arrangement, a small bathroom arrangement and an elongated centerpiece. A one-on-one phone call was assessed by a random member of each team. That took the order from their customer and practice proper communication and order taking skills.
Trinity FFA finished in first place, while Ensley Clark, H.G. Parkinson, Fort Cherry FFA, took second place.