Bulkeley Middle School Pollinator Project
About BMS Pollinator Project 2023
A new look on village beautification that benefits our ecosystem
We are a team of 8th graders from Bulkeley Middle School Civics class in Rhinebeck striving to create a more vibrant and healthier habitat for local pollinators. We hope the visibility of gardens we are creating around the Village inspires our community to recognize the small steps we can all take to benefit our local ecosystem. They are also beautiful ways to welcome visitors to our area.
What do we Hope to Achieve with This Project?
Pollinator Project 2023 hopes to bring more life and spark into the village of Rhinebeck. Lately we have been feeling like the Village has been dull, and we hope to replenish it with the help of pollinators including bumblebees and a host of native bees, hummingbirds, butterflies and moths. We hope to add many container gardens for all of the pollinators to have somewhere to go. We will have gardens by local stores on Market Street, so more nature will be included in the village. We hope that people will be inspired and put their own container gardens in their yards. We are also creating pollinator gardens at the Lion’s Club Mini Park as a gateway visibility area to our school. Rhinebeck is known to be a very environmentally friendly place, and we want to reflect that by this project.
Local Pollinator Species We Are Trying to Benefit
Ruby-throated hummingbird
HOW WE DID THE POLLINATOR PROJECT
Our goal: A new look on village beautification to help local pollinators thrive in our community.
We grew pollinator seeds donated by Phantom Gardner and are making pollinator container gardens for local businesses that are being supplemented with additional pollinator plants. We also are hosting an inground pollinator garden at the Lion’s Club Mini Park as a gateway demonstration area to our school, as well as helping to install native bee houses at Burger Hill.
For fun, we made our garden at the Mini Park mostly yellow and purple variety pollinator plants (with some whites and blues) in honor of Rhinebeck’s school colors.
Special thanks to Uri Perrin, Winnakee Land Trust’s Director of Outreach, for mentoring this project and Meg Crawford of the Village Tree Commission and our teacher Mr. Frischknecht! We also thank the many people and local businesses listed below who supported us and donated their plants to the garden to make this a true community collaboration.
We continue to seek supporters to help us extend our reach in the community and broaden our impact.
I’m part of this project because I want to make a difference in the community and to bring more beautification to Rhinebeck.
I am excited to be contributing to my community. It’s cool to be helping the pollinators while also helping Rhinebeck become more beautiful!
I am excited to do this project because I want to make the town look better and change it up.
I am super excited to help the environment as well as make the town look pretty and more colorful.
It’s so great to know that a small school like Rhinebeck can really make a difference.
I’m excited to show the community that students care about the environment and want to do something that makes it better for us and pollinators.
Things You Can Do to in Your Own Backyard!
Even small things make a huge difference for pollinators!
One of the goals of this project is to inspire our community to realize the many things that you can do to help a pollinator’s journey be easier, and you can do them in your own home!
THANK YOU TO OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS!
