Mara and Lauren our Store Clerks

If you have ever been to the store at one of our Create Your Owns or just to shop in the store, more than likely you have met Mara and Lauren. These two ladies have been working regularly in our retail store for a little over a year.

Mara will be a senior this year at Big Spring High School. For the past two years, she has also attended Vo-Tech for nursing. She currently has her Certified Nursing Assistant certificate and plans on continuing her education after high school to get her Registered Nursing degree working in pediatrics. She has lived in Newville, PA all her life and is second to youngest of two sisters and one brother. She started on the Meadowbrooke farm crew when she was 15 where she helped to pollinate, harvest and sort gourds. Pollinating, she feels, is the hardest job she has to do because it is backbreaking and also the hottest since it is done in July. In the Summer of 2017, she was asked if she would be interested in working in the store during the summer and she said sure. She has been working in the store for over a year now and has become very knowledgeable about the gourds and the crafting process they go through. She works mostly on the weekends and during Create Your Own events checking you out in the back of the building. She is very dependable, reliable and helps to keep the store clean and in tip top shape. In her spare time, she likes to spend time with her siblings, swimming and Kayaking. Her ideal day would include anything outside.

Lauren just graduated from Mechanicsburg High School and has been accepted in the Nursing program at Harrisburg Community College in the fall. She would like to be a labor and delivery nurse when she has completed college. She has been around the gourd farm since she was a little girl because her mom and dad work here too, and her aunt and uncle own the business. She is the youngest in her family and has just one older brother, Zack. She started coming up to the farm when she was around five years old with her brother to run around the farm and play in the creek with her cousin, Ashley. As she got older, she helped her mom in the retail store doing odds and ends to make a little money. She started working weekends in the store when she was 16 and most recently for the Create Your Own when we moved a register to the back. Since she has been around for so long, she already knew the fundamentals and beginnings of the business. She is organized, responsible and helps keep the store organized and stocked. In her spare time, she enjoys hanging out with her friends and spending time outside. Her ideal day would be at the beach with the salty air, warm sun and the sound of crashing waves, then going out for a family dinner and getting ice cream on the boardwalk.