Every program at Ohio State ATI is full of hands-on experiences. Whatever students choose to study, they will gain experience in their given areas through experiential learning. For Heather Bauder, our staff floriculturist, the hands-on experiences were one of her favorite parts of her education at Ohio State ATI and are a big part of her current role.
Heather graduated from Ohio State ATI with Associate of Applied Science Degrees in both Floral Design and Marketing and in Nursery Production Management (now titled Greenhouse and Nursery Management). After graduation, she worked in the floral industry, including a role as manager of a floral shop for six years. Then she returned to Ohio State ATI in her current role.
Heather oversees our on-campus floral shop. Our floral students receive real-life, hands-on experience working in the flower shop by designing, merchandising, and providing customer service. The second-year students progress to becoming the managers for the first-year students, which allows them to have a whole new experience of managing others.
Strawberry Kisses Floral Arrangement
One of the experiences our floral students have is organizing specials around Valentine’s Day. The floral students design and market different types of Valentine’s Day floral arrangements which are sold to the campus and community. These flowers vary from traditional long-stemmed roses to less traditional arrangements such as “Strawberry Kisses.”
Another part of Heather’s role is being a member of the horticulture gardening team that plans, designs, installs, and maintains the campus’s learning gardens. She harvests many of the plants that are grown on campus for use in ATI’s design classes. Floral students have the opportunity to design with flowers and foliage that greenhouse students started as seeds or cuttings and that Ohio State ATI students took care of throughout the growing season.
The Floral Design and Marketing major and the Greenhouse and Nursery Management major are only two of the thirty programs that Ohio State ATI offers. Students in all programs have experiential learning opportunities. According to Heather, the best part of coming to Ohio State ATI is, “Students who come here get real-life experience and hands-on practical experience in their field of study.”