One of the biggest traditions in Texas high school football is Homecoming Mums. These artificial flowers laced in ribbons, bows, and bells are not hard to spot on the day of the big homecoming game.  

“Homecoming has been around since the 1930's, and Homecoming is a tradition that everyone takes very seriously in Texas. In our Floral Design classes, we are teaching skills that are used in the industry and one of those is to design and create mums and garters as floral shops do. Each student in floral design creates a mum or garter for a test grade,” said Kelsea Jones, Floral Design Teacher. 

Mums purchased in a store can be pretty pricey. Jones hopes that the mum-making skills students gain can be used outside of the classroom. 

“As we created the mums and garters this year, I hope the students can take away the skills to build their own in the future. If you go to purchase a mum or garter at a store you can pay anywhere from $75-$500,” said Jones. “Having this skill set will help them to save money or if they wanted to get a part-time job, they could use these skills in the Floral Department at a grocery store or floral shop in town.”

Students made over 200 mums this week, many of which were donated to the Frenship High School Special Education Program.  

“Each student has the opportunity to keep their mum or garter they designed. Students who did not want theirs donated their mums to the Heart of Frenship Cheer and any others will be used next year as examples for students,” said Jones.  

Jones is pleased with how her students took advantage of this opportunity to be creative and give back to their peers. 

“It's so much fun watching each student create their unique design over the two weeks, they really get into their designs. I love that they can use this as a creative outlet and make it unique to them,” said Jones.