Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kan., is hoping to fill the area's gap in floriculture training through a new floriculture certification program that will begin this August.

With the floriculture program at Kansas State University now defunct, and the only other local certification course at a local business ceasing its classes, Joseph Gadberry, assistant dean for science at JCC, says the wheels for a program at the school started to turn in Spring 2007. By November, the program had been approved.

To get a full understanding of what they'll face in the real-world floral industry, students enrolled in the one-year program will take classes ranging from Principles of Traditional Design and Plants for Interior Design to Small Business Accounting and Retail Floral Shop Operations.

"We have had a number of people, both prospective students and florists in the metropolitan community, express their excitement for the program," Gadberry says. "The certificate will provide students interested in floriculture, and those who wish to set up their own businesses, the training necessary to be successful in the field of floriculture."

Trained professionals are something that's sorely needed in the industry, says Joyce Mohr Abraham of Mohr/Mears Florist, Inc., which is why she volunteered to be on the board for the program.

"I think it's good for the industry and good for the future," Abraham says. "We need people who are instructed (trained) and excited to work."

A new certification program is good news all-around for others in the industry, because there aren't many industry-focused continuing education options left in the country, says Melinda Lynch, AIFD, floral design instructor for California Polytechnic State University.

Lynch says challenges exist because floriculture programs are expensive to maintain and, at the same time, some have fallen victim to budget cuts, including Lynch's own horticulture department. That's a shame, she says, because like Abraham, Lynch sees the programs as critical components of industry.

"I think it's crucial that if you go into business, you go into it with the proper training," she says. "You're not just going into the industry to play with flowers — you're here to make money."

Adrienne Summers, AIFD, program director of floral design at the Community College of Baltimore County in Maryland, says all-around programs are key to bringing professionally-minded people into the industry. "In order to have a quality program you need to cover all facets of the industry," Summers explains. "You need these programs because the industry has a problem obtaining and maintaining quality employees. [The programs] give the employees a better foundation to work with."

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 

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