Alumni Hayden Grimes “jumps” right into The work force right after high school

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Brooklyn Sprenkle, Reporter

Alumni Hayden Grimes, who graduated in 2018, entered the workforce immediately after high school due to a unique opportunity to work with her mom, Amanda Grimes, at Fawn Grove Florist and Gifts. The fact that she works 25-30 hours a week and graduated two years ago is an impressive accomplishment.

After Hayden Grimes graduated, her mom bought Fawn Grove Florist and Gifts. As a result, she chose to go an unconventional route. Instead of going straight into college, she chose to stay home to work with her mom. Her ultimate goal is to take over the shop in the far future. 

“We hope to keep the business going so one day our grandchildren can take over. Who knows….maybe one day we will make flowers for the White House!” Amanda Grimes said.

Amanda Grimes loves working with her daughter at the florist shop because they are both equally creative. “We put our minds together and always come up with something fun and beautiful.”

Hayden Grimes does many different arrangements from Homecoming corsages to bouquets for weddings. She said, “I learned how to do the arrangements by learning from the previous owner and watching different YouTube videos.”

When Hayden Grimes takes over the florist shop, she doesn’t want to expand it but keep it just the way it is because it is successful. 

While online resources are available for ordering flowers, the family believes “it’s best to personally talk to a florist, because we can do exactly what you want and it’s something that will always benefit us.”

Despite the draw of digital living, the business is still thriving. In fact, the flower shop is busiest through the months of October through May because of homecoming, prom, weddings, etc. As summer begins, it gets less busy for Hayden and Amanda grimes.

While Hayden Grimes does plan to take over the flower shop, she would also like to enroll in a college and later become an oral surgeon’s assistant. “I believe that I will always be apart of the flower shop; I think I will go to school and work in a dental office and then work on weekends at the shop.”

High school prepared Hayden Grimes for her job by teaching her different life skills, how to understand and communicate with daily customers. She also stated, “It also gave me skills to deal with the occasional negativity of some customers.”

As a student, Hayden Grimes was pretty reserved and participated when necessary but didn’t really want to get included with things like sports. “I was a student that liked to listen and take in everything”.

Some advice from Hayden Grimes to highschoolers is to not let negativity consume you. She added to that statement, “You don’t have to be like everyone else or do what they do to fit in. You have to be yourself and never let people change you”.