Advanced Career Education Center at Hermitage
🔍 Program: Floriculture & Greenhouse Management Program
Travel to ACE from your Homeschool on Day 1 or Day 2 after your first class of the day.
ACE Classes run from 10:30am – 3:15pm
Horticulture Science Honors
1 credit, DE optional (semester 1)
Greenhouse Honors
1 credit, DE optional (semester 2)
Floriculture Honors
1 credit (semester 2)
Return to your homeschool for end of the day dismissal.
🧠 Learning & Coursework
This program focuses on plant science, greenhouse operations, and floriculture practices used in agricultural and horticultural settings. Instruction takes place across a fully operational 30 × 60 greenhouse and a ½‑acre outdoor garden, where students are responsible for maintaining growing spaces, managing plants, and supporting four public plant sales each year. Students also engage in applied work that includes professional floral design services for events, reinforcing real‑world expectations for quality, consistency, and presentation.
🌱 Hands‑On Work & Environmental Conditions
This is a hands‑on, outdoor‑ and greenhouse‑based course. Students are active regularly and should expect tasks such as planting, watering, pruning, potting, and maintaining plants and growing spaces. Work may take place in warm, humid, or outdoor conditions, and students should be prepared for exposure to soil, water, fertilizers, and plant materials.
📜 Certifications Student Leadership
Students in this program are expected to participate in FFA (Future Farmers of America) as part of their professional development. FFA involvement supports leadership skills, teamwork, responsibility, and industry engagement aligned with agricultural and horticultural careers.
In addition to earning course credit, students will work toward industry‑recognized credentials, including:
These credentials allow students to graduate with documented skills, certifications, and career preparation—not just a grade.
🔍 Program Prerequisites
Must be a Junior or Senior in HCPS
👩🌾 Responsibility, Care, & Attention to Detail
Successful participation in this course requires consistency and accountability. Plants and growing systems depend on daily, precise care, and missed steps can directly affect outcomes. For example, annual production cycles such as poinsettia sales require plants to be covered and uncovered on a strict daily schedule to achieve proper growth and coloration. Students are expected to follow instructions exactly, complete routine tasks reliably, and understand how individual actions impact plant health, quality, and program success. Attention to detail and the ability to correct mistakes are essential skills in this field.
👔 Professional Conduct & Daily Expectations
This course operates with expectations aligned to agricultural, greenhouse, and customer‑facing work environments. Students are expected to
Purchase specific work attire for daily wear when attending ACE classes and events
Closed‑toe shoes are required at all times.
Additional protective equipment may be required for specific tasks or activities.
Display a visible ID badge at all times
Demonstrate professional behavior, punctuality, accountability, and respectful communication
Students must wear work‑appropriate clothing suitable for greenhouse and outdoor environments, including clothing that can get dirty or damaged.
⬇️ Work attire sample images appear in the image below
📢SPECIAL NOTE: Students in this program are ALLOWED and EXPECTED to wear jeans (non-distressed) as approriate for outdoor work.
1 years –3 credits – Advanced Career Education (ACE) Center at Hermitage (Horticulture : Landscaping & Plant Science located at ACE Virginia Randolph)
This program is designed to be completed in one year during the 11th or 12th grade.
Horticulture Science - 1 credit (Honors): Horticulture Science Landscaping offers skilled workers satisfying career opportunities in varying working environments. The expanding and ever-evolving green industry requires skilled workers for high-demand occupations which offer educational and leadership opportunities. This course focuses on preparing students for entry-level employment, postsecondary opportunities, and advancement in landscape design, construction, and maintenance. Instruction includes industry safety standards, the applied science of plant production, greenhouse operation and management, landscape design, and the turfgrass industry. Students will use plant and soil science to propagate and cultivate horticultural crops in a greenhouse and/or land lab.
Greenhouse Plant Production & Management - 1 credit (Honors): This course prepares students for postsecondary educational career programs and entry-level positions in the horticulture and greenhouse plant production and management industries. Instruction includes industry safety procedures used in greenhouse plant production; plant identification; the science of plant production; development of plant production facilities; greenhouse management and operations; business management; and marketing strategies used in the Green Industry.
Floriculture - 1 credit (Honors): This course prepares students for postsecondary educational career programs and entry-level positions in the floriculture, horticulture, and floral design industries. Instruction includes floriculture industry safety; the science of floriculture crop production; floriculture plant material identification; floral design basics; marketing; and business management.
Dual Enrollment Notes