CCSD Pathway Profile: Agriculture - Plant & Floriculture Systems

Cherokee High School Career Pathway teacher Lindsey Garner works with Agriculture - Plant & Floriculture Systems students, Niky Camposeco, Nachely Rojas and Lilly Kuykendoll in the school’s greenhouse.

This week’s CCSD Pathway Profile focuses on Agriculture - Plant & Floriculture Systems, which is offered at Cherokee High School.  Five different agriculture Career Pathway programs are available in CCSD high schools.  CCSD offers 38 Career Pathway high school programs, which provide students with a wide selection of job exploration and preparation electives.  Through CCSD Pathway Profiles, we regularly share highlights with you from one of these programs … 

Lindsey Garner’s dream of teaching floral design bloomed when she was in high school.

Now she’s inspiring career dreams to blossom in the minds of her students in Cherokee High School’s Career Pathway program for Agriculture - Plant & Floriculture Systems.

“I took agriculture education classes in high school and fell in love with the Pathway,” said Ms. Garner, a seven-year educator who joined the Cherokee HS faculty four years ago.  “I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, but never knew what I wanted to teach until I was enrolled into floral design and management in high school.”

Ms. Garner said she loves the hands-on labs in her program.  Her favorites include students’ work to arrange and deliver floral arrangements twice a month to customers through the Flower of the Month program, and their work to grow plants in the school greenhouse that are then sold to the community through an annual spring plant sale.  

“I think career classes are beneficial for students because they allow students the opportunity to learn more about a particular area along with skills that can be applied in the workforce,” she said.  “Students are able to learn employment skills and leadership skills and have the opportunity to do hands-on learning.”

Senior Ansley Gulledge said she is reaping all of those benefits as a student in the program.

“The Pathway teaches much more than just agriculture.  It has taught me workplace skills involving time management, teamwork and communication that I can carry with me as I continue into college,” she said.  “The hands-on experiences while working in the greenhouse allowed me to truly apply what we have learned in the classroom to a working environment which has been so impactful for myself and my peers.  My time in the agriculture Pathway at Cherokee has been such a beneficial experience for myself as well as others, and I have gained an immense amount of skill in leadership and cooperation within these classes and FFA!”

Within the Pathway, classes offered include: basic agriculture science; general horticulture and plant science; and floral design and management.  Students can earn a science credit toward graduation requirements as well as OSHA 10 industry certifications.  They can compete in FFA Future Farmers of America state and national career skills programs and contests.

This Pathway prepares students for careers including, but not limited to: floral designer, landscape architect, irrigation technician, landscape foreman, nursery worker.

The average income range for careers in this Pathway in Georgia is $18,000 to $73,100.  Local and area employers for this Pathway include, but are not limited to: Seasonal Designs Landscaping, All State Tree and Landscape Group, Landscapes of the South, HGA Landscape Services, Autumn Hill Nursery Inc., Buck Jones Nursery, Lady Slipper Rare Plant Nursery, Cherokee Tree and Landscape, Nature Scapes Landscape Services, Sharp Tree Service, Falling Leaves, Miller Landscape, Mixon Landscaping, North Georgia Native Plant Nursery, Twin Branch Nursery and Landscape, and the community’s many local florists.

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