Bee habitats made for Girl Scout project
Trending
EAST CHAIN-- An interest in bees led 14-year-old Elsa Thompson to make 25 solitary bee habitats for local farmers and gardeners for her Girl Scout Silver Award project.
Elsa is a student at Granada Huntley East-Chain School. She's been in Girl Scouts since she was 5 and explained that the lead-up to this project has been a long time coming.
She said she was in 5th grade working on the Bronze Award with her Girl Scout troop, #34353, when she had a desire to go for the Gold Award, which is the highest honor a Girl Scout can obtain.
"Then I learned I had to get my Silver Award first," Elsa shared.
Her mother, Malorie, explained that the Silver Award needs to be obtained by 9th grade.
This past summer, Elsa started working in earnest on her project. She designed the blueprints, loosely based on templates she found online. Malorie said that there was a lot of trial and error initially.
Elsa talked to Britney Kawecki about the project and was given some wood to use. She also up-cycled her grandparents old water bed frame, which she cut into pieces. She then used a drill press to drill holes into the pieces of wood.
Malorie explained that different sized holes were drilled into the front of the houses so that bees can get in.
"Then I gathered little pieces of wood for the roofs," Elsa said.
She made the roofs the right size and began attaching them to the rest of the houses. Then she painted them all bright colors so that they'll attract bees. Finally, she attached a wire so that they can be hung from a fence post or tree.
A requirement for the project is that a Girl Scout must spend at least 50 hours on the project, which Elsa easily did.
She said before she began she spent hours researching the best way to build the habitats. She was originally going to use bamboo but found out it's actually harmful to bees.
"I found the best is wood that you drill holes into because bees often find old, abandoned woodpecker holes or other holes in trees or stumps," Elsa said.
While she's allergic to bees, Elsa said she's always loved them.
"They're a keystone species in the environment. Without bees there wouldn't be enough pollinators," Elsa said.
Once her 25 bee habitats were complete, Elsa donated them to people in the area.
"My dad's a farmer and he knows a lot of other farmers," she said.
Elsa said the project allowed her to gain some carpentry skills as well as develop more in-depth problem solving capabilities.She plans to stick with Girl Scouts through high school and go for her Gold Award when the time comes.