Julian Menendez | Contributing Writer
Behind Academic Center Two, near the Bayview parking lot, sits a small butterfly garden that has become forgotten and overgrown. For months, litter grew to replace butterflies and small critters as its primary residents.
Early on Sunday, members of the BBC Science Club gathered to change that. Armed with gloves, rakes, and shears, they were ready to give the garden some much-needed care. The students cleaned up trash, leaves, and pruned plants to revitalize the garden and begin creating a place for both pollinators and people to thrive. In the future, the club hopes to enhance the space with native plants and wildflowers to replace any invasive ones.
“Whatever community service events we can find, anything we can help out with, we do,” said Eden, president of the Science Club. “This is just one of the many things that we do. It helps the butterflies, keeps them alive, and it’s a big way for us to give back.”
The cleanup revealed how much waste had piled up without proper maintenance – plastic wrappers, confetti, food tins, containers, and scraps of paper scattered in every corner of the garden.
“I didn’t expect to find so much trash in a garden that’s right here, secluded from everything,” they said. “It’s very isolated, but the amount of trash you find is surprising. I think that it’s really important to care about these areas.”
Image of the garden during the clean-up
For volunteers like Dave, the heart of the project — and others like it — is the long-term impact of consistent cleanups.
“It’s enjoyable just to clean up all the mess,” Dave said. “Across towns and cities, there’s always trash in green areas. It’s nice to clean it up, and then come a month or two later and see everything grow back again. Change isn’t instant, but little by little, things can improve.”
Beyond removing trash, the club hopes to further revitalize the garden by incorporating more native plants to replace invasive ones to strengthen the garden’s role as a pollinator haven. Taking care of little habitats like this can boost student morale whilst also allowing pollinators and smaller animals to have a place to prosper.
“During some seasons, the plants might completely die out,” Eden explained. “We want to propagate more native plants and fewer invasive ones. Even so, the garden has grown naturally, and now we see a lot of butterflies. There’s even research that goes into it.”
For the Science Club, the butterfly garden is just the beginning. The group plans more community cleanups while also giving students a place to meet with and have fun with their peers through their other events.
Join the BBC Science Club for their First General Body Meeting on Thursday, September 18th, in the Wolfe Center room 137.
About Post Author
Comments are closed.