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Vo-Ed Center sellingplants

The school, at 12611 86th Ave. N, hopes its inexpensive plants prove to be a cash crop.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published May 7, 2006

First, superintendent Clayton Wilcox put it on a list of programs that could be eliminated to help the cash-strapped district save money. That was avoided when members of the surrounding community rallied to save the school.

Then the school's horticulture teacher left for a better job, leaving her students without the leadership necessary to participate in the annual Green Thumb Festival, which allows them to showcase their talents and earn some money for the school and themselves.

Now those students and their new teacher are hoping the community rallies again to buy some of the 1,500 plants they've grown during the school year.

The plants, which include 20 species, such as brightly blooming petunias and geraniums as well as coleus, begonias, Mexican and tropical sage, and milkweed, are being sold weekdays this week for $2 to $4 at the school, 12611 86th Ave. N. Customers can drop in anytime between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

If that's not convenient, the students will have a plant sale from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the school. All plants will be $2 each.

Sales will benefit both the school and the students.

The Vo-Ed Center is a place where kids from Seminole, Osceola and Largo high schools go for a part of each school day to learn practical skills ranging from carpentry to horticulture. The goal is to prepare the teens for the real world, and many get summer jobs using the skills they've learned.

Students in the horticulture program can immediately use their skills at nurseries or as background for future forestry degrees, said Dolores Myers , who took over the class.

Classes can also be tailored to what the students want or need.

When Samantha Solon , for example, signed up for the horticulture class last school year, she was unsure about what horticulture entailed and concerned about being able to keep plants alive. Not only did she find she had a talent for gardening, she found a best friend in the program.

But even better for Samantha, a 17-year-old junior, the teacher geared her lessons to the business side of horticulture because the teen is interested in business.

Samantha, who just got her first job, as an errand runner for a law firm, said she's not sure the horticulture industry is in her future. But she thinks its lessons will apply everywhere.

It's stories like that, as well as the farm program next door, that caused neighbors to rally around the school when it faced closure this year.

"It's a neat school I'm glad they kept it open," Samantha said.

But the school continues under a cloud. Wilcox, in a recent luncheon speech to the Seminole Chamber of Commerce, said the district's vocational programs need overhauling.

He also cautioned the audience that he did not plan to keep the Vo-Ed Center open just because of the petting zoo.

Jim Gill, the school's guidance counselor, acknowledged that those at the school feel as if they are on borrowed time. But, while they are there, the staff is reveling in success.

The Pinellas County Education Foundation recently gave its first vocational scholarships. Six students from the Vo-Ed Center qualified. Five of those won all the scholarships.

[Last modified May 7, 2006, 10:21:05]