Every year at winter time poinsettia flowers line the halls of the school. This is because of the annual poinsettia sale that is run by Rebekah Cousins and her class. The flowers are sold in the halls from eight in the morning to two in the afternoon every school day. The flowers cost five dollars and can be purchased near the front doors and/or directly from Ms. Cousins in her classroom.

This program was started when Cousins came to the school. She, at first, was not aware she would be running the greenhouse. When she was hired to work with the Learn and Serve program she thought she would only be helping out the actual greenhouse teacher.

She considered herself lucky though because, “My parents had a farm, and we always had a garden. I’ve always had a green thumb.” Cousins said.

After assigned to this task, Cousins called up some coworkers from her last job who had a greenhouse and asked “ ‘Hey, how do you do this?’’

“I kind of just took over what they were doing and made a small version,” Cousins said as she talked about how she started the poinsettia sales here at Forge.

They get adolescent versions and then grow them in the greenhouse. . They take care of them until they are fully grown and ready to be sold. Cousins said they tend to grow well but, “they are finicky so you have to know a little bit about the poinsettia plant.”

All of the kids in her class help her tend to the plants throughout the year. They have to prep the greenhouse for the plants and then take care of them until they are fully grown. She believes the program is beneficial to the kids because, “it’s good life skills for them and it’s just a wonderful program. This is like a little business the month of December. We open up our shop and if we lose plants we lose money, and they get to practice math skills, communication, speaking, going up to a stranger, getting over their nervousness, making a sales pitch, that kind of thing,” said Cousins.

She said that the kids enjoy the program and it gives them a break from their normal math and science work. The profits also benefit the class because it keeps the program going, and with the extra funds cousins says “I’ve bought Ipads for the class, we’ve went on field trips, if I need supplies, whatever I need I have extra funds for the kids and the program.”

Cousins believes this program is very beneficial for her kids.

If you miss out on the Poinsettia sale this winter, there is  a sale in the spring where people can purchase  “annuals, herbs, perennials, and vegetables.”