pope john students meet the bees

SPARTA — The Pope John Middle School Panthers Robotics team has been working feverishly to complete their robot and project answering the question, “How can we improve the relationship between humans and animals?”
The Panthers team has chosen to work on improving the relationship between humans and bees because bees are important contributors to our food supply both by pollinating fruit and nut trees and by manufacturing honey.
The Panthers met with a team of bee experts including a beekeeper, a plant expert, and Pope John High School’s Green Team moderator. The students learned that one of the problems that is depleting the bee population is a lack of food supply. The Panthers chose to encourage others to plant pollinator gardens by educating their fellow students about the importance of bees, the types of plants they should include in their garden, and other ways to help pollinators such as including water sources and shelters in their home gardens.
The Panthers met with the Pope John High School Green Team and toured their pollinator garden which they created in a designated space near the high school. The students worked together to harvest seed pods which the Panthers will take home to be planted as part of their project to help bees. Community members can plant their own pollinator gardens and help foster the bee population by planting native plants that bloom in every season.
Some options for your local garden could be Lanceleaf Coreopsis in the Early Spring, Butterfly Milkweed in the Early Summer, and the New England Aster in the Early Fall.