Written by guest contributor, Kaylie Fuoss

Bug2School is a collaborative learning experience utilizing school gardens for ecology experiments that engages researchers, college students, teachers and school-age students. As a UIUC student, my summer fellowship in Bug2School was an enlightening and inspiring adventure that allowed me to explore research and outreach. Our Bug2School team designed and executed a research project that we are now developing into a conference presentation and scientific paper. Additionally, we connected with the community to provide entomology education, garden work, and zucchini produce! Interwoven with our research and community service, we were given the freedom to explore our own passions within the ecological field and created three individualized capstone products. Bug2School was a well-rounded, educational and impactful summer experience for me and our community.

Across seven school and community garden sites, our team of undergrad researchers examined ‘tri-trophic’ interactions between soil amendments, zucchini plants, herbivore pests and the predatory insects that eat them. We manipulated vermicompost (worm poop!) amendments as an experimental treatment, then counted the insects that colonized the plants, examining effects of vermicompost on insect attraction and/or repellence. Through this process I learned how to investigate a research question, scrutinize scientific papers, design a research protocol, collect taxonomic insect data, analyze and report data and lastly, communicate our findings. We found significant reductions in herbivores on vermicompost-treated plants, suggesting that vermicompost might help deter unwanted pests.

Because our experiments were performed in school gardens all over Champaign-Urbana, we were able to engage and serve our surrounding community in many ways. Our team created 14 new raised beds for participating schools and community gardens, where we grew hundreds of summer squashes that were donated to surrounding community food providers such as Prosperity Gardens and Solidarity Gardens. We also supported our community garden partners by watering, weeding, mulching and even installing a drip irrigation system. Further, Bug2School extended our outreach to the classroom; we led two summer entomology lessons at MLK Elementary School where we explored school gardens, explained common predator-prey interactions, and taught elementary school students how to identify a ladybeetle larva! Our community outreach experiences were some of the most rewarding of our program.

Bug2School gave our team a chance to experience and harness new skills, but it also gave us the freedom to explore our interests. Each of us developed our own capstone projects that were inspired by our unique passions. After a summer of hard work, our creative ideas turned into fruitful outcomes: I (Kylie Fuoss) created a teacher lab manual for performing Bug2School experiments in school gardens, Joelle Armas created an educational entomology-based checkers game, and Adrian Zzimbe made a noteworthy discovery about how vermicompost and water stress interactively shape pest attraction and plant growth. Each of us gained a unique set of skills during our Bug2School fellowship through collaborating with each other and working with our community. Bug2School creates an environment in which member’s ideas and inputs are valued, supported and incorporated for the betterment of the program. Bug2School will continue improving and publishing our scientific paper, teacher lab manual and checkers game while furthering our relationships in the community and schools!  If you’d like to learn more or are interested in participating in our new program, visit Bug2school.org.

Kaylie Fuoss

Guest Contributor

Undergraduate Student

Earth, Society, and Environmental Sustainability Major