Petals & Pals Brings Students, Seniors Together

Eastmont High School sophomores Zaylie Doll, Jaylee Hix and Isabella Schultz organized the Petals & Pals event as an FBLA competition project.

By Russ Alman, Communications Director   
 
Zaylie Doll, Jaylee Hix and Isabella Schultz, sophomores at Eastmont High School, were looking for ideas to compete in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) competition. FBLA is a national student business organization that prepares students from middle school to college age for business careers through academic competitions, educational programs and community service. Students compete at the state level and top students within each category are invited to a national competition.

Since Hix already had experience running her own flower business, the team decided they would create a bouquet-making class. “We just love flowers and we think everyone loves flowers so we thought that was a great way to connect the generations,” Hix explained.
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Shelley Charlton, their FBLA advisor at Eastmont High School, connected them with Foothills Community Center (FCC) board member Erin Cass, an Eastmont graduate with experience in event planning. Cass also happens to be Charlton’s sister-in-law.

Cass suggested that creating a class at FCC would be a good opportunity for their project.

​This was the first time any of the students had worked with seniors and they came away very impressed. “It was fun. I really enjoyed it,” said Hix.

“It was really nice seeing people happy together,” said Doll, “seeing younger students, teens, and seniors connect in a way that’s fun for everybody and so we can make those intergenerational connections.”

FCC Executive Director Lisa Blair was very happy with the outcome. “As a flower lover, I was thrilled to participate in Petals and Pals — and it turned out to be a wonderful experience,” she said. “The students organized a fantastic event and were incredibly helpful throughout. We all went home with beautiful floral bouquets and lasting memories.”

This event was a perfect fit for FCC’s agenda to reach out to the community to create more opportunities for intergenerational activities. “One of the reasons that we rebranded earlier this year as Foothills Community Center was to make it clear that we are a multigenerational, adult activity center,” said Russ Alman, FCC Communications Director. “When the young ladies from Eastmont’s FBLA approached us about hosting this event, our staff knew it was a great fit for this initiative. We would love to host more events like this that allow older adults to interact with students from local schools.”

In order to secure flowers for the event, the team approached Cindy Gonzales, owner of The Bloom Flowery in downtown Wenatchee. Gonzales, who is an Eastmont alumna and a young entrepreneur in her own right, was happy to help. “Once they told me they had connections with FBLA and… had ties to where I went to school… I decided to obviously agree. We get a flower delivery truck every Friday, so I was able to send a few extra stems, and then we do our weekly cleanout of our cooler of flowers that we put on sale. So we set those aside and handed to them for the event. I’m always happy to support and help out whenever I can,” said Gonzales.

The threesome presented their project at the FBLA state competition in Spokane and came in 6th in the event planning division, nearly making the cutoff for nationals, an impressive result for three sophomores.

Cass was proud of their accomplishment. “It was such a pleasure mentoring Eastmont’s sophomore Future Business Leaders of America students. As an Eastmont alum and small business owner, I’m proud to support their efforts,” she said. “Petals and Pals lit a spark as they discovered they can turn their passions into a meaningful community asset — while building powerful intergenerational connections. “