Students Create, Sell Autumn Bouquets

The change of seasons presented the ideal opportunity for Horticulture Teacher Rosemary Reichert to provide valuable job and life skills lessons for her students in the Transitional Services Program at Brookhaven Learning Center.

Reichert taught her students how to create the bouquets, which are available for sale to building staff for $5. Students learned how to arrange the flowers, which includes understanding the correct position of each one in the vase. They learned about the different blooms and greenery they use and how to distinguish between varieties.

The lesson also involved instruction on prepositions, such as around, under, and inside, which Reichert uses to describe the proper placement of the flowers. Additionally, students write out phone and desk orders, utilize the cash register when taking payment, and put their customer service expertise to use.

Said Reichert, “The ability to correctly follow directions and a sequence of steps, are transferable skills that can benefit my students at future places of employment and everywhere in life, as are all of the hands-on qualifications they gain with this exercise.”

The Transitional Services Program at Brookhaven Learning Center, which is an Eastern Suffolk BOCES school, provides a half- or full-day applied academics program. The program emphasizes life and employability skills for students with mild to moderate developmental disabilities and utilizes a variety of simulated and real-life settings to prepare students to transition from school to post-secondary outcomes. Included in the Transitional Services Program is the Work Activities Center for students 16 to 21 who meet established criteria, to have a volunteer work experience in the community under the direct supervision of a job coach.