The 2019 FFA Horticulture Exposition was held on Friday, March 15 through Saturday, March 16 on the second floor of Mercers Student Center overlooking the quad on West Windsor campus. This is the eighth consecutive year that Mercer has hosted the event in which more than 500 students from 27 New Jersey high schools participate.
Students submit entries each consisting of floral and botanical arrangements, with other materials like ribbons or beads used to accent the display.
Tables filled with colorful and quirky displays stretched three-fourths of the way around the quad in the hallways on the second floor. A number of guests walked down the hall, pausing to look at specific pieces that caught their attention.
Hamilton Township resident, Joanna Turner said she was impressed with the creativity of some of the designs, particularly those in the category titled “Look at that Container!”
The pieces in this group consisted of arrangements “Done in a container not normally used for this purpose; must be able to hold water,” according to the table description.
“It’s neat how they used items like a coffee pot and a sink to hold the flowers,” Turner said.
A display in the category “Country Delights” showcased a log overgrown with wildflowers and other shrubs. On top of the log were two squirrels made out of a plant crafted into the shape of the animals. A first place ribbon was pinned to the display with the comment, “Very creative and good use of materials.”
Categories for judgment fell under a variety of themes, including: Harvest Festival, Jersey Fresh, Mardi Gras, and Leprechaun Festival.
Each category has specific criteria that need to be met, according to Professor Amy Ricco, program coordinator for Ornamental Horticulture and Plant Science at Mercer.
Ricco said via email, “The flower arrangements all need to be priced out correctly and have the appropriate elements and principles of design.”
Entries in each category were judged based on their design, balance, functionality, and uniqueness. Prize ribbons were awarded to displays that exemplified these qualities while failing to include a required element lead to disqualification.
The New Jersey chapter of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) was responsible for organizing the exhibition. Judging took place on March 15 and all the entries were displayed for the duration of the day on March 16.
Jacob Newkirk, a state Officer of FFA and a sophomore at Cumberland County College studying Animal Science stated, “People and their families come to look at them and then the students come and take them home at the end of the day.”
Most of the students represented at the exposition attend a high school that offers a class in floral design, according to Brittany Smith, the state FFA Secretary and a freshman at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. There are even one or two chapters from middle schools.
Smith said, “A lot of the kids definitely are going to pursue a career in plant science, landscaping, or in the actual growing of nursery and horticulture plants.”
However, according to Newkirk, “Some of them just do it for fun.”
