Colton Prater

At Drake's 7 Dees, I learned how to operate in a professional setting (having only worked for my dad before, who's a general contractor) and interact with customers. Although my seasonal position only allowed me to briefly be there, I learned a lot about plants, plant care, and helping customers with questions.

At Hanauchu, I helped Nishihata Kunzo with a myriad of tasks, and assisted in whatever ways I could while he conducted his Dream Garden event. I was also able to further develop my ability to communicate in Japanese.

• Food Handlers License - Expires 06/08/2025

I'm extremely interested in plants, specifically tropical plants and bonsai. I have a large collection of tropical plants, ranging from common plants to extremely rare ones and cultivar hybrids. Bonsai is rather new to me, meaning I don't have fully developed bonsai yet and only have pre-bonsai. I do have quite the collection of those as well though, having native Douglas Firs to Japanese Plum Blossom (Prunus mume) and Japanese Black Pines (Pinus thunbergii). My free time is often spent maintaining and taking care of my plants, which is sometimes the entire day spent solely taking care of my plants. 

At my old school Oregon Episcopal School (OES), there were many opportunities built into the curriculum that allowed me to volunteer both on and off campus. This included electives and a special event that happened every week before spring break called Winterim. In my Freshman year, I was a part of the community engagement elective, where I created a place that allowed students to access information about volunteer work. I was also a teacher assistant in the lower school art class (for grades Pre-K and Kindergarten). Then in my Sophomore year, I was again a part of the community engagement elective, where my peers and I organized a trash clean-up at a local park/forest. Lastly, I volunteered with my peers at Clay Street Table in downtown Portland.