Ector County Independent School District Career & Technical Education students inspect plants as they prepare for the ECISD Career & Technical Education annual spring plant sale Tuesday afternoon at the ECISD Agriculture Department. The plant sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday inside the greenhouses at the ECISD Agriculture Department, 7651 W. Dunn St. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)
Ector County ISD’s horticulture program is having its annual spring plant sale Wednesday through Friday at the Ag Farm, 7651 W. Dunn St.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and proceeds go to the greenhouses.
Brittney Reyes, an 18-year-old Permian High School senior, and Desiree Vidal, a 17-year-old Odessa High School junior, are in their first year with the program.
They had no idea they would like the program so much.
Ector County Independent School District Career & Technical Education student Isabelle Rodriguez, 17, organizes plants as she prepares for the ECISD Career & Technical Education annual spring plant sale Tuesday afternoon at the ECISD Agriculture Department. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)
“I had originally joined thinking it was a horticulture club at Permian. We have this botanical garden area, and it’s just really dull,” Reyes said.
She added that she thought she could revamp the area and spice it up. Then she was driven out to the Ag Farm on a bus and she was in shock. She didn’t know where she was, or what the place was.
“… I’ve just come to love the class and the greenhouses are my area of peace. I like to go in there, even if it’s just to be on my phone or just to look at all the flowers and water them. It’s so relaxing. … I wish I had learned about this class when I was a freshman because I would have been in it all four years,” Reyes said.
She added that she wants to open a floral shop when she finishes school.
Vidal said she had similar thoughts about the class.
“… I thought it was going to be a little club at OHS, just learning about plants and how to do floral design and then we came out here the first day. I like it. It’s different,” Vidal said.
She wants to be in the course again next year.
Reyes said people should be eager about the sale.
“They should be excited because it’s a lot of pretty flowers for a lot of pretty people,” Reyes said.
Horticulture/agriculture and mentor teacher Christina Butler said.
Ector County Independent School District agriculture teacher Christina Butler, center, instructs Career & Technical Education students as they help prepare for the ECISD Career & Technical Education annual spring plant sale Tuesday afternoon at the ECISD Agriculture Department. The plant sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday inside the greenhouses at the ECISD Agriculture Department, 7651 W. Dunn St. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)
She noted that there a variety of plants available for sale that were grown by the students.
“They started out as a plug and then from there they took care of them and just watched their growth and if they had to do any insecticide or fertilizer, they would do that,” Butler said.
Reyes said she knew there was a lot that went into maintaining the flowers, but she never considered all the science and knowledge that you learn when you’re growing plants.
She had never tried it before, but now it has become a passion.
“It grabbed me,” Reyes said.
Butler said there are about 20 students in the program currently, but she hopes now that they are out at the Ag Farm, it will attract more people.
And Butler sees the possibility of growing the horticulture industry locally. She added that she thinks people will be glad to return to the sale.
“With COVID and then with the greenhouse being shut down because we were getting new ones, I think that the community is ready to see what we have now. So … I expect a lot of people to be out here,” Butler said.
Ector County Independent School District Career & Technical Education student Alma Lara, 15, holds up her dirty hands for a photo as she helps prepare for the ECISD Career & Technical Education annual spring plant sale Tuesday afternoon at the ECISD Agriculture Department. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)
Ector County Independent School District Career & Technical Education students spread treated mulch as they prepare for the ECISD Career & Technical Education annual spring plant sale Tuesday afternoon at the ECISD Agriculture Department. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)
Ector County Independent School District Career & Technical Education student Lovae Chavez, 18, left, gathers propagated Aloe Vera plants for the ECISD Career & Technical Education annual spring plant sale Tuesday afternoon at the ECISD Agriculture Department. The plant sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday inside the greenhouses at the ECISD Agriculture Department, 7651 W. Dunn St. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)
Ector County Independent School District Career & Technical Education students spread treated mulch as they prepare for the ECISD Career & Technical Education annual spring plant sale Tuesday afternoon at the ECISD Agriculture Department. The plant sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday inside the greenhouses at the ECISD Agriculture Department, 7651 W. Dunn St. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)
Pots of cacti sit in one of the Ector County independent School District greenhouses as ECISD Career & Technical Education students help prepare for the ECISD Career & Technical Education annual spring plant sale Tuesday afternoon at the ECISD Agriculture Department. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)
Ector County Independent School District Career & Technical Education students from left, Heleyna Gonzales, 16, Brittney Reyes, 18, and Arlynn Pando, 18, transfer plants from one greenhouse to another as they prepare for the ECISD Career & Technical Education annual spring plant sale Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at the ECISD Agriculture Department. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)
