The Pullman High School Future Farmers of America chapter helps ring in springtime with a plant sale. This year, the 18th annual sale will raise money to send the members to the organization’s national championship.

For two years, high school junior Aliya Dunlap, the FFA treasurer, has been a part of the plant science class that grows the flowers they sell. Her love of plants and ability to take charge placed Dunlap unofficially in charge of the plant sale.

“I love getting to watch everything grow, I am a huge nerd when it comes to plants,” she said. “Watching everything come together after watching literal dirt for weeks is so rewarding.”

Dunlap said she’s stayed with FFA for three years because of its great leadership building opportunities.

“This sale shows that we’re not just high school punks,” Dunlap said. “We’ve put a lot of work into this and we just want to raise our own money for something we care about.”

Hailey Penman, high school junior and FFA president, hopes the plant sale will help community members understand what FFA really is.

“The plant sale helps tell people about FFA because a lot of people think it’s just for farm kids,” Penman said. “We’ve grown all these plants ourselves, so this sale gets to show everyone how much leadership we’ve worked on too.”

Penman loves being involved in the plant sale because it gives her the opportunity to see everyone showing their support for FFA.

“I really like getting to see all the community members come out,” Penman said. “People line up an hour before the door opens just so they can get exactly what they want. It’s really cool to see all the support.”

At the plant sale, several individual flowers and plants will be available for purchase, as well as some vegetables. The main focal point, however, is the hanging baskets that students in the plant science class designed themselves, Dunlap said.

The FFA plant sale fundraiser will take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Pullman High School greenhouse. Plants, available for purchase with cash or card, range from $1 to $22.

“Teachers from the middle school come every year, parents, friends of parents all come to support not only the FFA, but also the school,” Dunlap said. “All of our hard work is literally blooming from dirt, and it brings everyone together to make our town prettier.”