Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Tyrone Area High School has a new face in the Agriculture department with a lot of new ideas for the program.
Mr. Ben Morden started working in Tyrone at the beginning of the year. He teaches classes such as horticulture and agricultural science. One of Morden’s ideas for the department is sharing the flower arrangements made by students with the rest of the school.
An area has been set aside where students are able to sell their flower arrangements to students and staff.
According to Morden, the project is in the beginning stages at this point. In the future, the project could expand and flowers could be sold to the public. However, for now the main customers are school staff members.
For Valentine’s Day, students made up 60 bud vases to sell to teachers.
Future plans include selling Easter Lilies and something special for Mother’s Day. They may also have corsages available for students to pre-order for school dances.
“We’re not here to outdo any of the area businesses like Engelman’s or anyone else,” said Morden. “This gives us money to purchase supplies for the kids to use.”
A lot of the flowers used by students when practicing their flower arrangements are donated by funeral homes. However, the flowers sold are either grown by students in the greenhouse or purchased.
Morden said they are able to do this because of a donation from the FFA that helped get the program started. Money raised will be able to be used for future FFA fundraisers.
“This is also a good experience for the kids,” explained Morden. “They use a cash register, learn about customer service, and how to create displays, among other things.”
Morden did say they are in need of baskets, vases, old coffee mugs or anything that students can use to create arrangements. Any donation of these items would be greatly appreciated.

By Rick