BOTHELL — Renee Bradley’s learning about the proper way to prune young plants and memorizing tongue-twisting botanical names in Latin, something she didn’t dream of doing before a few months ago.
The 25-year-old Lynnwood mother, who’s had a series of jobs in the past, was searching for a new career at the WorkFirst office when she heard about a new plant care technician class.
Now, as the class at Bothell’s Cascadia Community College ends this week with a graduation ceremony, Bradley has a passion for plants to go with what she’s learned.
"I want to work at a local retail nursery, and also I want to do stuff on the side, like pruning," said Bradley, who added she’s thinking about eventually pursuing a botany degree at a four-year college.
Many of the other students who are moving on from the three-month class this week expressed similar hopes that their new horticultural training can move them beyond the world of minimum-wage jobs.
"I think they’re absolutely employable in the industry," said Paul Ehlen, a landscape designer who taught the class this winter. "I think this class will help them not get stuck in that entry level."
Amy Persell, Cascadia’s workforce education program manager, said the plant care class resulted from the college’s desire to offer an alternative to the plethora of computer-related courses.
"We quickly focused on plant care, because there are so many employees in the area," she said. "It’s also a field where people can advance without more education."
Since the college was using a work training grant to fund the class, Persell notified local WorkFirst offices about it. WorkFirst is Washington’s welfare-to-work program, which requires recipients of welfare benefits to take job training or be actively looking for work.
Diana Favre, WorkFirst supervisor at the Employment Security Department’s office in Lynnwood, said the plant care class was different from nearly all the other training courses available for WorkFirst clients.
"We had a lot of office type trainings, bank type trainings, and we wanted to have something that there was actually a demand for from local businesses and something that might appeal to more people who’d like to work outdoors," Favre said.
That was a lure for Amber Hansen, 22, of Lynnwood, who wasn’t interested in the more technical-oriented training classes.
"I like that we get outdoors and are hands-on," she said of the plant care class. "We’ve gotten to explore a lot of nurseries."
Persell said getting cooperation from nurseries in Snohomish County and the Eastside helped immensely.
"One of the struggles of the program is we had money, we had students, we had an instructor, but we didn’t have any facilities," she said.
So, while the class was able to do some basic gardening work around the campus that Cascadia and the University of Washington Bothell share, much of the hands-on experience came at the nursery businesses. That also gave the students a chance to meet nursery managers who may want to hire them one day.
The class, which has met for more than six hours four days a week since mid-November, also has included classroom studies on plant identification and related topics. Many students made stacks of index cards to keep track of the dozens of plant names they’ve memorized. In addition to writing the pertinent details about different plants on one side of the card, some taped actual leaves from the plants on the other.
Persell said this class, the first-ever of its type at Cascadia, wasn’t without struggles. Many of the students are parents, some faced difficulty in getting reliable transportation to the class, or even faced homelessness during the quarter. After starting with 14 students, the class will end with 10.
Even when students faced problems in getting to class, Persell said, they showed their seriousness by doing their homework. Ehlen, a certified professional horticulturist who owns The Terrestrial Specialist in Duvall, added the students exceed his expectations.
"It’s just been tremendous to be right there when people are getting their first taste of this," he said. "It’s a lot of fun."
The students also have received help on writing resumes and job placement. Persell said potential employers have called to inquire about the students, who are graduating just as seasonal demand for nursery workers picks up.
While the region’s economy still is struggling, the students may not have much trouble finding at least temporary jobs in the field, according to local nurseries.
"I think there’s been quite a bit of growth in all the green industries," said Ladd Smith, co-owner of In Harmony Organic-Based Landscape Services in Bothell, who gave the class a tour of his business. "There’s lots of opportunity."
That’s what Stephanie Murphy, 35, likes to hear. The Lynnwood woman has worked mainly in cashier and housekeeping jobs in the past. She now wants to work in a nursery or with an indoor plant service.
Hansen, who is nine months pregnant, said she wants to take courses in irrigation systems and landscape design after she has her baby.
Bradley, who is now taking care of 18 plants in her apartment, said she thinks the Cascadia course is a big step toward her future.
"I’ve had a lot of different jobs, and what I’m really grateful for is this is a chance to get a job that’s not a McDonald’s job," she said. "It’s a perfect opportunity to get a real job."
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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