Cal Poly Students Sweep Floral Design Nationals

Cal Poly's floral design team took top trophies at the National Student Design Contest recently in Seattle, including the First Place full team award.

Cal Poly's Student Chapter of the American Institute of Floral Designers competed against 13 college and university teams from across the U.S. and Canada in the event, part of this year's annual convention of the American Institute of Floral Designers.

It is the second year in a row the Cal Poly floral design team has taken the top spot. "I'm extremely proud of the students," said team advisor and Environmental Horticulture and Crop Science instructor Melinda Lynch. "They did a great job and were asked to be models for one of the top designers in the nation during his floral show at the convention. It was a wonderful experience for all the Cal Poly students who attended the convention and the competition."

Four of our students have competed before and four had never been to a competition. All eight girls placed at least once in the top 15 in all four categories, Lynch explained.

2005 team members traveling to Seattle included Jennifer Hart, Dana Cozzitorto, Hilary Hirzel, Layci Gragnani, Liz Brown, Audrey Chaney, Sonny Pulido and Anna Villalobos. Alternates were Christine Lancaster and Nicolette Lynch. All 10 team members served as models for professional floral designer Ron Mulray of Pennsylvania.

Student competitors were judged by AIFD professionals on the floral design entries in categories including sympathy, bridal bouquet, holiday arrangement, flowers to wear. Team members accumulated points to place Cal Poly in first place.

In addition, Gragnani took first place in sympathy design, second in holiday design, and third in overall design.

Contact: Melinda Lynch, (805)756-1237, mlynch@calpoly.edu