• Article Photo. Keri Webster assembles her project.
    Keri Webster assembles her project.
  • Article Photo. Erin Cantrell, Sydney Walker, Jessica Alderson and Keri Webster pose for a silly photo.
    Erin Cantrell, Sydney Walker, Jessica Alderson and Keri Webster pose for a silly photo.
  • Article Photo. Sydney, Jessica, Keri and Erin hold the ribbons they won at the State Floriculture event.
    Sydney, Jessica, Keri and Erin hold the ribbons they won at the State Floriculture event.
  • Article Photo. Jessica Alderson works during the State Floriculture event.
    Jessica Alderson works during the State Floriculture event.

On June 9th, 2015 four Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Chapter members participated in the State Floriculture CDE at Kirkwood Community College. The members that attended and competed as a team were Jessica Alderson, Erin Cantrell, Sydney Walker, and Keri Webster.

State Floriculture consists of multiple activities in which the members take part in. The activities that they participate in are corsage making, plant ID, a general knowledge test, a greenhouse production test, a pesticide use and application test, a problem solving test, as well as a team event.

This year the team event consisted of four different items. The arrangements included a one sided vase, a three bud vase, a keepsake arrangement, and a bouquet.

The Vinton-Shellsburg FFA members split up the arrangements so that each one of them can do one; Jessica Alderson made the one sided vase, Keri Webster arranged the flowers in the three bud vase, Sydney Walker did the keepsake arrangement, and the bouquet was done by Erin Cantrell. The girls may have had an individual arrangement to do but they worked together and collaborated on ideas throughout the whole process, which allowed them to score higher when it came time to judge.

The results were promising; the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Floriculture team of 2015 received 3rd place at state with two members placing in the top ten. The two members that placed in the top ten were Jessica Alderson, who received 8th place, and Erin Cantrell, who placed 7th as her first year in Floriculture. Sydney Walker placed 13th in the State and Keri Webster placed 16th, doing excellent in the CDE as well.

Day after day, the four team members practiced for the Floriculture CDE and in the end their hard work really paid off. Besides doing the best that they could they also had a ton of fun! The girls made friends with other FFA members, as well as growing closer to one another during the entire time that they worked together.

 

Co-Reporter

Jessica Alderson