The Georgia FFA Area 5 floral design contest was judged by experienced industry florists including (from left to right): Abbi Vaughn, Kara Adams, Bailey Rayfield, Joy Matthews, Paula Lewis and Denise Beacham. {span id=”docs-internal-guid-fd87a5da-7fff-9823-5062-24f92f361cc3”}{span}Brittaney Schwing hosted the contest with assistants from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.{/span}{/span}

MOULTRIE — Price Jarvis, a Colquitt County High School senior, competed in the Georgia Future Farmers of America floral design contest at the Sunbelt Ag Expo Wednesday morning.

Jarvis, along with 109 other FFA members, was ready to test their horticulture knowledge in the three-part competition.

“I’m excited. I love floral science. This is what I want my career to be,” she said in an interview before the contest.

Jarvis has been a member of FFA since her ninth-grade year at C.A. Gray Junior High School, and she never expected to be interested in floral design.

Price dedicates her floral design interests to her ninth-grade teacher, Blaze Bridges, and her CCHS teacher, Michael Schwarz.

“My time in FFA has been very fun. I have made a lot of friends and memories. It’s inspired me to be a florist,” Price explained. “My ninth-grade teacher Ms. Bridges started it. She was the one who pushed me to do plants, and Mr. Schwarz has taught me everything I know about plants.”

Brittaney Schwing hosted the contest with assistants from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

“We’re really excited. This is our first time hosting the contest here at the Sunbelt Ag Expo,” Schwing said in an interview after the contest began.

The contest has a junior and senior division. Both groups were given a scenario and had 30 minutes to create a correlating floral design. The contestants had to identify 25 different floral specimens. The seniors had the additional task of answering 25 questions based on the general floral industry and horticulture.

Schwing said the judges for the contest were experienced industry florists.

The judges for the contest were: Paula Lewis, a flower farmer and rancher from Albany; Bailey Rayfield, a fresh-cut flower farmer from Adel; Kara Adams and Abbi Vaughn, from Kara Adams Design; Joy Matthews, from Joy Matthews Art and Design in Sycamore; and Denise Beacham.

To other FFA members or competitors, Jarvis said, “Keep going and keep trying. If you study and prepare for your competition, it will pay off.”

She placed third in the Area 5 contest. She has competed in the floral culture area competitions for the last two years. The placement only highlights Jarvis’ floral future.

“I plan to go to ABAC and get a Horticulture Science degree and an Agribusiness degree. My dream would be to open a floral business in our downtown,” Jarvis concluded.

The floral design contest was one of numerous youth educational opportunities that the Expo is hosting.