In the coming weeks, after class lets out, students will hang around Snohomish High School to sell plants.
The after-school activities are nothing new for those in the horticulture program. Plant science teacher Mike Hougan said the sale has been going on for about 60 years.
Starting Wednesday, students in the school’s three plant science courses will work at the spring plant sale, which is open four days a week.
The sale is part of the course curriculum. Students grow the plants during class and must work at least five days at the sale.
“We’re teaching job-related skills, being able to be punctual along with knowledge of the plants and care,” Hougan said. “Sometimes I think the most important part of it is being able to make a commitment and follow through with it.”
The plants are priced competitively, ranging from about 75 cents to $4. Money generated from the sale goes back to the plant science courses, paying for school trips, soil, pots, and maintenance on clippers and shears.
Some students, however, see value beyond those dollars and cents.
“It allows the students to work with the community in ways they wouldn’t normally interact,” senior Kate Hubler said.
Hubler, who also participated in the 2007 sale, plans to work a couple of weekends at the greenhouse this year. While she enjoys the hands-on training — ringing up purchases at the register, helping customers — her favorite moments are of a simpler nature.
“Just being able to hang out in the greenhouse on a nice day,” she said.
For shoppers, the stock might be more of a draw. Sale items include food for the dinner table — tomatoes, peppers, cilantro — as well as plants for the garden, such as geraniums, creeping Jennys and pansies.
As customers scoop those plants up, Hougan hopes his students take away a lesson, completing part of their education.
“I think kids need to learn the production, the growth and then the marketing of the products,” he said.
Reporter Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455 or e-mail arathbun@heraldnet.com.
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