CHAPIN, S.C. — Students at Spring Hill High School are learning job skills by working in their own student-run floral shop, the 'Sweet Stallion Stem Floral Shop.'
Stallion Transition Academy has a special education class focused on transitioning from school to the working world. This year, they created a floral shop that is meant to teach students everything from customer service to plant care.
Caroline, one of the students who is helping with the shop, is partial to hydrangeas.
“I like this one!" she said, pointing to a blue one.
Yates, another student, explained what they do as students for the shop.
“Well, we sort them out and give them lots of water," Yates said, "and not only that, but we also put the correct amount of water. And luckily I do the very best I can.”
Christen Miller, one of the teachers, explains how the skills learned translate to the real world.
“Social skills, transition skills, this opened their eyes to other opportunities and showcased their skills in terms of being able to maybe work in different parts of a flower shop," Miller said.
Olivia McCartney, another one of the teachers said that students arrange the flowers and deliver them.
“The students arrange the flowers from the little ones all the way to the big ones and the filler flowers, they put them together in arrangements and then they deliver them to the teachers within the building and then also at the district office,” McCartney said.
Mason said his favorite flowers are the sunflowers. His sister taught him how to plant them after he talked about the class.
“These flowers are different colors. Some are red- they’re roses- pink, yellow, purple, white," Mason said.
“We deliver them by cart or by walking," Yates explains.
Teachers in the school or district office place orders and the students work on customer service and social skills when delivering them.
Abby tells us when they drop off deliveries, “they say thank you."
“When they leave, they’re going to have quite the plate of ideas of what to do and how to fill their resumes," Miller says.
This is the first year of the floral shop and Miller and McCartney tell us that many schools and school districts have called to see how they can do something similar in their classrooms.