Women’s History Month Blooms at Santa Monica College with A.S. Flower Market
Santa Monica College students paused between classes to choose from an assortment of flowers and build bouquets on Thursday, March 19 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. The market allowed students to enjoy the warm weather and create free bouquets as part of the A.S. Women’s History Month events.
The process was simple. Students moved down a line, first selecting bouquet fillers, then small blooms to add some color, and finally, larger accent flowers to bring their arrangement together. A.S. members wrapped each bouquet and offered the participants a French macaron to end the experience.
The flowers were provided by Renaissance Flowers, a vendor at the downtown L.A. flower market, and the macarons came from a woman-owned business based in Santa Monica, Nature Macarons, aligning with the event’s purpose: celebrating and uplifting women.
“A lot of the people that made flowers today were women, or nonbinary, nonconforming,” Nahomy Rivas, A.S. director of activities, said. “The point was to make a flower bouquet for a woman in your life or yourself to feel empowered as a woman, because I feel like flowers are a gesture that a lot of women take to heart.”
Rivas said she felt positively overwhelmed by the turnout.
“I feel so happy that so many people came,” she said. “And I cannot wait for the next event, which will be our A.S. Election Week, which will be a taco truck and a matcha coffee cart.”
Other organizers say they did not expect such a high turnout.
“We actually didn’t expect to run out of flowers that fast, especially wrapping paper,” Susan Zhang said, A.S. Activities Director’s Commissioner, who helps Rivas in planning and executing all the A.S events on the activities calendar. “We had to cut it on the spot and everything.” She added, “It was so beautiful to see everyone’s creations. There’s a lot of people that came, and I’m really glad.”
Many students stumbled upon the event by chance. “I was walking, I saw beautiful flowers, and I thought: why not make a bouquet for myself to, you know, brighten up my day?” student Pam Virochpoka said. “I like pink, red, purple, and I started picking out flowers, and I was like, you know what? If it’s pretty, it’s pretty, and it’s my creation.”
SMC students and friends Aspen Avila and Liora Hartung came to the event together, already thinking about who might enjoy their free bouquet.
“Our friends are coming back into town for spring break, so maybe I’ll share it with them,” Hartung said.
“It’s my sister’s opening night for her dance concert tonight,” Avila added. “I think I’m going to give them to her.”
Both agreed that A.S. is doing a commendable job bringing events like this to campus, and are eager for future events and getting involved.
Zhang noted that the celebration will continue with the upcoming A.S. Women in Leadership Roles Panel “just to celebrate women.”
Students can learn about future events by following Associated Students on Instagram.