By Julia Marie Schmitt AIFD, Chair Career Development Committee
As the old saying goes, ‘good things come to those who wait.’ After two years of postponements, the AIFD® Career Development Committee on September 25, 2021, finally hosted its Bring FFA to AIFD® Virtual Workshop. Eight FFA teams along with their advisors from Connecticut, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin, who were awarded scholarships to participate in person at Symposium 2020 or the Virtual Workshop 2021, gathered via Zoom for an all-day design hands-on experience focusing on floral jewelry and line designs. Due to the miracle of modern ingenuity, cutting edge floral products and breath taking floral botanical materials were drop shipped to each school thanks to the generous support of Green Point Nursery, Smithers-OASIS, American Floral Endowment and AIFD Foundation.
Instructors Lisa Belisle AIFD and Julia Marie Schmitt AIFD took the teams through an intensive program in which they created wire boutonnieres, contemporary corsage bracelets and line designs with tropicals. The participants experienced the magic of advanced floral design for the first time in their educational training. Hailee Toone, FFA Advisor from Webster High School in Utah, shares, “My team can’t thank you all enough for the time and effort you put into this workshop. My students left feeling like Master Florists and learned new skills that I could have never taught them!” The FFA Advisor Amanda Haeberlin from Palmyra High School in Missouri stated, “the opportunity AIFD® offered my students to work with professionals in their field, as well as with materials that we never would have been able to afford on a school budget, was a priceless thing for me. To see them grow, gain skills, and enjoy a day of learning is really why I teach. Thank you AIFD® for allowing me to give my team this opportunity.”
From the point of view of the instructors, the students rose to the challenge with their open-minded intensity, razor sharp focus on the tasks at hand, and dedication to learn something new. “Failure is not an option for these young and up and coming professionals,” observes Julia Marie Schmitt AIFD. “Whatever Lisa and I threw at them, they mastered in a short period through the challenges of virtual reality.” If this workshop, and past Bring FFA to AIFD® events, are any indication of what the future looks like for the floral industry, the Career Development Committee honestly can testify to an untapped enthusiasm and out of the box thinking for generations to come.
