The OH floral team has blossomed into a first-place State finish for the second consecutive year.
The competition, held on Sat., Jan.31 at the College of DuPage, hosted the OH Panthers with 11 other teams.
Students with an interest in horticulture can participate in OH’s floral design team, an extension of OH’s Horticulture Club.
According to Horticulture Club sponsor Meegan McCarthy, the team is a low-commitment, creative way for students to show their skills. The only requirement is the successful completion of floral design fundamentals. After Floral Design 1, students are encouraged to continue by taking Floral Design 2, and Introduction to Horticulture.
“There are about 20 schools with Horticulture and Floral Design programs, we are very lucky at OHS to have this fun, creative program that is also preparing students for careers. Any student who completes Floral Design 1 class is eligible for the OHS Floral Design Team,” said McCarthy.
This year’s team consisted of 12 people training on the team and the top five were selected to compete at the state level. Selection for the state team is extremely competitive and receiving a spot indicates both technique and creativity.
“Students take a 50-point written multiple choice test that goes over all sorts of floral material, they take a 50-point flower identification test and they complete 2 hands-on design challenges,” McCarthy added.
Students create several practice designs before the state competition, this includes a corsage and full round table design. During the competition, these two design categories are examined by an elite panel of judges.
“The students are scored by both floral shop owners and college professors to receive an individual score and then combined for a team score,” said McCarthy.
The team blew away their competition and placed first out of 12 competing schools. Although, the team is no stranger to big wins at the state competition.
“I just went for the experience. For the state, we’ve won so many times. Like my first year, we won second and then we placed first last year and first again this year,” said junior member Carmela Arch.
Participating members of the team love the creative outlet that floral design provides. Many end up taking additional horticulture classes to further their skill development.
“I joined the team last semester when I was taking floral one because I fell in love with all the people and it’s so fun to create these things that people use in everyday life,” said junior team member Delainey Torkilson.
After the state competition, members can continue using their floral skills in the horticulture club, which meets biweekly and participates in volunteer work and the greenhouse plant sale in the spring. The club is specially designed to explore each student’s passion for botanical work.
“Floral Team also participates in Hort[iculture] Club events too, for example going to the Bickford Senior home and playing flower BINGO with the residents,” said Mcarthy.
Returning members of the club will have another opportunity to compete for a top-five spot and compete for the prestigious state title again next year. The experience from the competition will help students on a future path of floral design polish their work and find passion in their field.
“I love the experience, you get to meet new people like I got to meet a lot of new people from different schools that are also interested in floral design,” said senior team captain Trinity Fritzler.
“It’s just fun and I get to be creative and have fun with other people,” Fritzler said.
Hello! I'm Fionnuala Quinn. I'm currently a senior at OHS and this is my third year of journalism. Apart from journalism, I am involved in Cross Country, Track and Field, Best Buddies, and horticulture club. I'm so thrilled to serve as EIC this year!
