Ripon Christian Floriculture Students Ace National Competition!
Story and photo by Megan Dyk
For the second year in a row, Ripon Christian FFA Floriculture team represented the state of California at the National Career Development Event Finals in Indianapolis with great success. For the same program to achieve this accomplishment two years in a row is rare, as FFA members are not allowed to compete in the category again once they have won a state title.
After winning the state championship in spring 2024, the Ripon Christian team of four young ladies, Jeanne Oosterman, Sydney Vandenberg, Cora Vander Meulen and Cailyn Mouw, won the national championship handily, with Jeanne Oosterman also earning First High Individual and Sydney Vandenberg winning Third High Individual overall. Starting over with a new team in 2025, coach Megan Dyk had no expectation of winning the state title again so soon. In fact, the 2025 state finals competition at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was the first time the new team members competed together. To their surprise, Gracelyn Dyk, Laci Nydam, Lauren Mouw and Geneva Vandenberg were crowned as the first high team and began their journey to Nationals!
The National Floriculture Career Development Event contest consists of eight practicums: general knowledge test, which covers an array of material from both the horticulture and floriculture industries, retail pricing, plant and tool identification, team activity, media selling, greenhouse management, growing procedures and floral design. This format is much more comprehensive and entirely different from the California contest, which emphasizes judging classes of plants and cut flowers as well as arranging multiple designs within a set period of time.
To prepare for the national contest in late October 2025, the team practiced diligently throughout the summer and fall and met with professionals to learn more about each facet of the industry. There were 47 states represented in the 2025 National Floriculture CDE finals, and once again, this time in a much tighter race, the team from Ripon Christian won the national championship! A highlight of the competition was the team activity component in which California was the only state to achieve a perfect score on their presentation.
The task was to create a table setting for a “Farmer of the Year” dinner with place settings, centerpiece, corsage and boutonniere for special guests, and students had to incorporate a commodity from their state in their presentation. The RC team brought in hand-crafted almonds that art students had made for them for their presentation, which impressed the judges. For Ripon Christian FFA, walking across the stage at Lucas Oil Stadium in front of thousands of FFA members, representing not only the entire state of California but also their local community and small Christian school, was an amazing experience.
Ripon Christian Agriculture Education and FFA program has 170 students with three agriculture teachers and offers two periods of Floral Design. Students who take the floral design classes receive UC/CSU Fine Art credit; they are exposed to everything from the history of floral design and color theory to propagation of greenhouse plants and learn to quote and order flowers for floral events. Each year the class takes on several floral arranging jobs throughout the community, everything from bridal showers to monthly subscriptions and weddings. Students receive hands-on experience from start to finish, including making recipes for arrangements and communicating with clients. Advanced students often become entrepreneurs, taking on their own customers with floral events. The experience students gain from being part of the floral program has been integral to RC FFA’s Floriculture Career Development Event teams’ successes over the years.
