Courtesy Photo Elizabeth Barnhart poses with a floral arrangement that helped her win "Student Designer of the.Year" at a recent floral convention in Green Bay.

CALUMET — A 17-year-old from Houghton earned an impressive honor at a recent trade show in Wisconsin. Elizabeth Barnhart, who is employed at Calumet Floral & Gifts was named Student Designer of the year at the Western Upper Michigan Floral Association Convention held recently in Green Bay. Barnhart was a member of a team of designers from Calumet Floral and Gifts to attend the event.

According to a press release, Calument Floral and Gifts said, “The WUMFA Convention helps us to strive for a healthy business, by improving our design skills, business skills and familiarity with new products. It also gives us an opportunity to enter design contests to compete with other designers from our region, which encourages us to learn and grow as designers. The WUMFA Design Contest is one of the longest running design competitions in the country.”

Barnhart has been employed at Calumet Floral and Gifts for the past two-plus years. In this time, she learned the basics of floral composition and design. Last January she also passed the “Intro to Floral Design Professional Education Workshop”, a five-day, 36-hour professional workshop offered by the Great Lakes Floral Association in downstate Haslett

Barnhart entered a “Pocket Boutonniere” competition at the WUMFA Convention last week. She planned out her design, calculated its cost, assembled it, and presented it to the judges for evaluation. From the judges’ evaluations she got the top scores, taking First Place in the Student Novice Division. Her score then qualified her to compete in a live, on-stage design contest with other top scorers. In this competition, designers were challenged to create a fresh floral arrangement in front of an audience of regional florists. The participants were encouraged to consider Principles of Design such as Line, Form, Space Texture, Color & Pattern. Each contestant was given the same florals and products and had to present their finished floral arrangement within the allotted 30 minutes. Barhart also won this second competition by popular vote, naming her the “Student Designer of the Year” over all Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, making it two prestigious awards

The press release concludes with “We are proud of how well Elisabeth competed as she represents Calumet Floral & Gifts’ passion for design and aesthetics! Congratulations Elisabeth! Thank you for choosing to ‘Serve the Entire Copper Country Beautifully’ with us. We are proud to have you on our team”