Recently, the agricultural science students announced the start of their poinsettia sale. The students worked hard all year to nurture and grow these plants, which were sold to State High students and faculty. To get a poinsettia, an order form must have been completed by Dec. 2 ahead of the Dec. 6 pickup date. The flowers will also be on sale during lunches the week of Dec. 9.
Throughout the year, the agricultural science students spent time caring for the poinsettias, which are located in the agricultural science greenhouse. The students took turns watering, checking for pests, deadheading, and checking the equipment, such as the pipes and heaters, which keep the plants safe.
The greenhouse manager, sophomore Elizabeth Bastis, goes out every other day at roughly 10a.m. to supervise the other students. Bastis described what this role entails.
“I take two of my classmates with me, and I manage both of them while one of them does mechanical stuff in the greenhouse, and the other one waters, deadheads, checks for pests, and looks at the soil. I help them with whatever they need help with, and do whatever else needs to be done in there,” Bastis said.
Once the plants are finished growing, the students focus shifts to selling them. To do this, the class works on setting up tables, ensuring the website is running, placing flyers around the school, confirming that the QR code works, and getting the word out about the sale.
This collective hard-work is significant because this class is the only group of students running the poinsettia sale.
“There was originally a separate plant class that would take care of the greenhouse, but there isn’t one this year from what I know that takes care of it, so we are currently in charge of the greenhouse,” freshman Avery Kimel said.
These students nurture hundreds of poinsettia plants in what is a mostly student-run environment.
“We’re the ones who have to look after the technology, the heaters, the watering, which is hard to do in one class,” Kimel said.
“We’re doing this as a group together, as a class,” freshman Ava Mrozinski said. “It’s a team effort.”
Planning for the sale started many months in advance. “Before the school year started we had to order the seedlings, and then they get here and we plant them all once they’re delivered. So that happened I think the second or third-week school started,” Bastis said.
From there, students rotate going into the greenhouse to do their jobs, as they each have their own role in the production of the poinsettias. Kimel’s job is to check “the leaves for diseases that might be infecting the plants, parasites, and watering.”
Plant sales are not new to State High, but since poinsettias are popular during the holiday season the sale is planned around the holiday season.
“The main idea is for [the poinsettias] to be sold around Christmas because people like to use them for table decorations or just to use,” Kimel said. “But also we are selling them a little bit prior because there are a few people who like to do Christmas shopping early and they’re really one of the more popular plants when it comes to holidays.”
Many agricultural science students chose the class because they wanted to learn more about something they are passionate about within the agriculture realm. For Bastis, her interest was related to flowers.
“I used to live on a farm. So I like agriculture and I want to go into floriculture, which is flower agriculture, and do flower arrangements for weddings,” Bastis said.
For others, their decision to join the class was related to a more general interest in farming and farming processes.
“I joined to learn more about the field of farms and nature overall by itself, the way things are made, and what we can do to help,” Kimel said.
For Mrozinski, a family connection to agriculture served as her inspiration. “Because my grandmother and my dad did this [agriculture] when they were younger…I decided to follow in their footsteps.”
