Reminder, this is an official dress competition. 

Please make sure EACH student comes equipped with the following: 

Clip board, (2) #2 pencils (MUST be #2), a non-programmable basic function calculator, floral knife, bunch cutters, ribbon shears, roll of floral tape, corsage wire, and a *fully charged chromebook or laptop! (*NEW) 

1. Team registration link: https://forms.gle/d1NdoLWMYshxFcZVA; due no later than Friday October 31st (please!) (Thank you Glastonbury, Wallingford and Trumbull!)
   
   

2. Contest outline: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p0KZv2wlBagXvHEALGiwLpm2DLYKmeVx0zCQQTSKqe4/edit?tab=t.0; there are a few updates especially to scoring. I have aligned our scoring to be weighted with the 2026 National Floriculture Contest guidelines. You will see the factors for each rotation.
   
   

3. National Floriculture CDE Handbook 2026 https://ffa.app.box.com/s/b60omh0qjy09b8qfz4xc3iyla0k36zni/file/1750629954671
   
   

4. Rotation schedule: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yk27Bn94Wf_HT3pnObFsr5LqslF86FScINNqx7oZ9KY/edit?usp=sharing
   
   

5. Plant Identification: To align our contest with the National Contest, there will be 40 plant specimens; see national list page 13
   
   

6. Corsage scorecard: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lNffWvEsbEIkBNh3et-lqc9_z-RZUgDZK_zJiGQ7XNU/edit?usp=sharing. Leah from Montville Florist is going to make a video refresher on how to make a corsage and send that video to me. Once I get it, I will share with all of you!
   
   

7. Team Activity scorecard: We will use pg. 25 of the 2026 National Floriculture CDE handbook 

IMPORTANT: TEAM ACTIVITY!!! PLEASE READ!!!!! 

This year it is scheduled to be sales flyer/brochure. Teams will need to bring at least 2 fully charged laptop or Chromebook and will need to familiarize themselves with Canva if they have not done so already. The scenario will require them to create a sales flyer using CANVA! (no more cutting out pictures from magazines!) Someone on the team will create the Canva document and share the document with the rest of the team so they may work together. 

The students will be given 25 minutes to complete the activity and then 5 minutes to present their FINAL PRODUCT to the judge. SEE PAGE 25 in the 2026 National Floriculture CDE Handbook for the scoring rubric. 

Students will need to have a Canva account ready to go (I might be the only one late to the Canva train, so hopefully all of your students are well versed on this!) 

I have already talked with UConn to make sure students will be able to access the internet on the day of competition. 

PLEASE NOTE: 

There are a few changes to the new 2026 contest; next years state contest will be run a little differently in order to align our contest with the National contest as best as possible. More on that later, but not now. 

If you have any clarifying questions, please don't hesitate to reach out! 

Corsage Demonstration Video