Working in the garden center at Franz Witte was a valuable opportunity to connect real world industry practices with educational goals.

In this role, I was able to learn the daily operational logistics and customer service aspects of the retail garden center including plant care, inventory, seasonal planting, and sales. The team lead and her crew were patient with my many questions as I learned to navigate helpful conversations with customers. The plant and hard good purchasing managers described their roles and thought processes as they made wholesale purchases yo keep inventory fresh, seasonally appropriate, and customer minded.

Upon completion of this externship, I have plans to find funding to bring the Franz Witte experts into the classroom to build terrariums with students as we navigate through our plant science standards giving them practical experience to connect their learning. In addition, I am connected with a partner of Franz Witte to explore having a classroom worm farm with education on decomposers and their benefit in an ecosystem.

I also will be planning a project based math lesson using the knowledge of our earth science standards which teach the rotation of the Earth and seasonal implications to landscape design.

The practical experience of hard work in the hot sun was worth it for me this summer. I gained new connections professionally and personally. In addition, I gained a sense of pride in helping customers design their spaces with beautiful flora.

Grade Level and Subject Taught: 5th grade all subjects