The Environmental Council at St. James Catholic High School celebrated Bee Week during National Honey Month.
Within this week in September, the council’s goal was to spread awareness and raise funds to help support foundations that are helping the bees.
“The idea for Bee Week first came about two years ago when the Environmental Council wanted to celebrate National Honey Bee Day (usually celebrated in August) and National Honey Month in September. In order to raise awareness and funds for this important cause we crafted events that engaged our school community including donation civvies, petitions and sharing individual actions to help save the bees!” shared Aisha Zubair, Environmental Council Student Lead.
The events the council held this year included a pollinator habitat photo contest, a sustainable, reusable glass bee straw sale to encourage the elimination of single use plastics, and a yellow and green civvies day pollinator fundraiser. The council was pleased and grateful for the school community’s support of their Bee Week, as well as for the generous support provided by Canadian glass artisan, Aimee Promislow of Glass Sipper.
Specifically, the council enlisted their social media account to encourage participation in their green initiatives and to help engage students in their pollinator habitat photo contest.
“We created posts to explain what Pollinator Habitats are and do for the bees, which flowers to plant to attract and sustain our pollinators, and through an infographic to identify the importance and characteristics of bees,” she explained.
Students bought into the campaign, taking photos of their local pollinator habitats. The winners were given a reusable jar of honey from one of the Environmental Council members' own bees.
“The school community participated in our Pollinator Habitat contest, supported the glass bee straw sale, and there was a great turn out for our yellow and green civvies day,” said Zubair. “We at the Environmental Council are very proud to say that through all of our events, our school community raised $1006.35! All proceeds will be going to the World Wildlife Foundation.”
The council is grateful for the support of the school community.
“None of this could be possible without the amazing student body, and our wonderful teacher advisors’ help,” she said. “Bees are still a species that are endangered, we as human beings need to step up and do our part to change that. The planet is our home and does everything for us, we should do the same back.”
Beyond Bee Week, the council has some suggestions for ways to contribute to the cause year-round.
“Students can help by planting their own pollinator gardens, providing a home for the bees. They should make sure their gardens are chemical free because Synthetic Pesticides are harmful to bees, especially because of their sensitive systems. Instead, use organic products and natural solutions such as compost,” explained Zubair. “If they can, students should send donations to bee saving foundations. How that helps is that the foundation uses the money to provide support towards protecting the bees, by providing a dedicated space for pollinators to nest and forage for food. They will also seek long-term solutions with the government on how to further protect bees. And finally, students can help by making people aware of these endangered species through interactive community engagement, such as what we did at St. James!”
To follow along with future St. James Environmental Council initiatives please visit their Twitter account.