The floraculture team at Stevens Point Area Senior High School captured honors at the annual FFA Convention in Louisville, Ky., last week.
The team qualified for the convention during the last school year by capturing first place in the state event at Madison after winning at Appleton, River Falls and Madison.
As a team, the SPASH group was ninth among 45 teams, received a gold rating and captured some individual honors, said Jerry Uher, agriculture teacher at SPASH.
Holly Somers was first in the nation and won a $950 scholarship, Maia Reck was eighth and won a $500 scholarship, while Amber Brzezinski helped the team notch its Top 10 finish.
"This is a very rigorous contest," Uher said, explaining that the students lasted from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in 10 categories, including a written examination of the floraculture industry.
The students had to make a $35 floral arrangement, solve problems with disease or insects, work together as a team to prepare a floral order for a wedding, prepare potted plants, pose as salespeople in a floral shop, interview for a job at a floral shop or nursery, make a corsage, prepare a Halloween floral arrangement for a TV ad and identify 40 plants.
"They put them through their paces," Uher said, noting that the team exceeded the silver ratings of last year's team and the 1996 one.
The local FFA chapter, represented at the convention by 15 students, also was listed among the top 100 of the 7,000 FFA chapters in the nation, receiving a national chapter award. This is a two-star award, said Derrick Meyer, another SPASH agriculture teacher.
The chapter won the state award for its involvement in community activities and was also honored for chapter activities and student development, he said.
While at the convention students attended a number of different activities, he said, including speaking, parliamentary procedure and agriculture issues.