Date: Fri 28-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

business-floral-design-Martin

Full Text:

Floral Designer Cited

(with photo)

BY SHANNON HICKS

Beth Martin has a dream to open her own flower shop one day. She is already

being recognized by national judges for her floraculture talents.

Beth, an employee at Newtown Florist, was presented with a bronze medal last

week after participating in the Future Farmers of America National

Floraculture Contest.

Beth works part-time at the Newtown florist shop while she finishes her senior

year at Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury. She was nominated for the

competition by her floraculture teacher, Gene Wisniewski.

The national competition was November 13-15 in Kansas City, Mo. The

competition tested participants on all levels of floraculture including plant

identification, floral arrangement, potting plants, designing arrangements for

particular occasions, problem solving, one-to-one selling, and general

knowledge of the floral industry as a business.

To prepare for the competition, Beth and a few classmates from Nonnewaug went

to the statewide competition at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, as

well as The Big E in September. By attending both events, the students were

able to see what judges were going to be looking for in the national

competition. They also learned how to work together as a team; Nonnewaug was

one of six schools in the state that sent a team to Kansas City. The FFA

presented awards to individuals as well as teams last week.

The competition was divided into two segments. In the first, students visited

a state park outside Kansas City for the plant ID, floral arrangement and

potting plants divisions. After that, they returned to Bartle Hall, where the

competition was headquartered, to complete the remaining divisions. Awards

were presented on Saturday, November 15.

"We didn't know how we were doing until Saturday morning," Beth said this

week, back at work at the flower shop. "We were nervous, and tired -- it was a

few long days of traveling and competing -- but we thought overall we were

doing pretty well."

Beth has been working at Newtown Florist since March. Before that, she worked

for 2« years at a flower shop in Southbury. She hopes to attend Rittner Floral

Design in Boston, which offers a six-month intensive program on floral design.

After that, she would like to continue in the floral field, maybe someday even

opening her own shop.