Cushing Trader

Many of the items featured at Cushing Trader, are created in the art room. Paintings are matted and framed by Wiskow, some are photographed and professionally printed on note cards, and furniture accent pieces are sanded, primed, and painted by students.

“I did this one,” offered Nick, a student who takes pride in seeing his painting on display at the store. When asked what materials he used to create the brightly colored abstract, Nick hesitates, “Ah, I don't think I want to give away my secrets.”

It's not unusual for a customer to comment on the wide array of offerings. “I had no idea the students made such beautiful pieces. The pottery is really lovely and it's functional, like the spoon rests,” one shopper offered as she chose dried flowers to place in the pottery vase she was purchasing.

With the arrival of autumn weather this week, the interest in the corn stalks, mums, sugar pumpkins, and gourds of varied colors and sizes has noticeably increased, according to Dave Kraemer, vocational instructor. “We really do have a lot to offer,” he says, walking visitors past the large field of zinnias and other flowers that are cut at shoppers' requests for 25 cents a stem. “They'll be freezing over soon, but there so much available between the green house and the store.”

The hustle and bustle on a Wednesday morning is not unusual for this time of year. Students working in the green house prepare wreaths from artemisia and flowers they've grown, picked, and dried, while others are sanding pieces of wood.

Volunteer Mike Collins (of Scituate), a builder and electrical contractor, is teaching students to use carpentry tools–vices, saws, drills–before they sand the pieces of pine that they will use to build bird houses “Nick, here, is doing great,” Collins says of his student this morning. “I would like to see lumber yards and other building material retailers donate scraps of pine, so that every student could make a bird house.” His enthusiasm and commitment to this project will hopefully prove contagious as he approaches stores with the request.

Inside Cushing Trader, students are sweeping, arranging items on shelves and setting up a step ladder to hang bunches of flowers from a beam to dry. “My favorite job is gardening, like taking the weeds and bringing them to the compost pile,” says Eric, who has worked in the bottle redemption and recycling vocational sites on campus. “I help customers carry pumpkins to the car, and at Christmas I helped customers pick out trees.”

Eric and his fellow students are learning customer service and communication skills in addition to the specific job tasks at hand. “Learning to work as part of a team, greet customers, and return to the work of maintaining the work site is all part of vocational training that transfers to many employment situations,” Kraemer says.

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Pictures Courtesy of the Patriot Ledger
Article Courtesy of the Hanover Mariner