By Chanelle Anne Muerong

Multitasking can be stressful, even overwhelming for some people. Have you met someone who has two jobs? It’s stressful. Now imagine you having two jobs and also running an organization.

Meet Marlene Hepner a teacher at Merrill F. West High School in Tracy. In addition to teaching, Hepner is one of the advisors for the school’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) program and runs a flower shop in her classroom.

She’s been teaching at West for 17 years.

Hepner took floral classes at Fresno State. Her roommate in college was the student advisor for Fresno State’s florist.

“I got most of my experience by helping her and being part of the floral industry before I even realized it,” Hepner said. “I was her delivery girl and I was helping out in the shop.”

The secret to running a flower shop in her classroom isn’t a secret at all. Floriculture 1 and Floriculture 2 are offered to juniors and seniors as elective courses.

In Floriculture 1, students learn the history of flowers and have a brief taste of the art of making flower arrangements. In this beginning class the only time students can make arrangements is either during holidays or during “Free Flower Friday” which is the Friday after a big order when there are flowers left over.

Floriculture 2 offers students more freedom to make arrangements while at the same time it gives them an education. This is the class that helps Hepner with her flower shop.

Brenna Mcleod, a former student, describes the class as a “fun and creative way of getting involved with the community.”

“I really enjoyed the class. It taught me a lot of patience and also skills that I use today,” she said. “When we had an order, the atmosphere was professional and fast paced, but everyone had fun while doing it.”

In addition to make arrangements for clients, Floriculture 2 does a monthly flower subscription called Flowers by the Month.

For a whole year, staff and district employees can order a monthly arrangement. Every month, a couple of students are in charge of making these arrangements. The students come to Hepner with ideas, such as which flowers they want to use and which container they want. The students enjoy it because they get to choose what they want to create.

As mentioned before, running a flower shop isn’t everything she does. She is also one of the advisors for the school’s FFA program.

In short, FFA stands for Future Farmers of America. FFA is a national organization that reaches from the state of Alaska to Puerto Rico and from the state of Maine to Hawaii, according to the FFA official handbook. It’s not only a group of students who want to be farmers.

Students in the class can also do something called a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project. It’s a project students can do outside of class. These projects can not only bring experience to students, but some might even bring home an award.

“FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education,” according to FFA’s official website.

“FFA for me was an educational experience that can’t be offered anywhere else,” Mcleod, who was in the FFA program for two years, said. “I was welcomed into the organization by many. Although stressful at times, it was really fun. I was able to go on fun field trips and meet a lot of people. I loved my classes and my FFA peers.”

Rebecca Russo, who graduated from the program, shared her experience.

“I have been in the FFA program as a student for 4 years. In that time, I served on the FFA Chapter officer team for 3 years,” she said. “I continue to support the program on the advisory committee. The FFA program helped me grow and expand my horizons and my strength. The program provided me with many leadership, community service and work experience opportunities that are helping me succeed in college and the world outside of high school.”

The motto: Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve.

Multitasking can be stressful. It can be demanding. It requires divided attention that only some people can manage. Those who manage to multitask are pretty dedicated and very amazing. According to her students and peers, Hepner is very busy and multitasks a lot.

A rainbow, in the form of flowers

FFA: A look into the lives of the students