Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center (CATEC) is excited to be collaborating on a project with other Albemarle County Public Schools' elementary and high schools. Working with Monticello High School Biology Teacher Chris Stanek, Learning Technology Integrator Willy Kjellstrom, and Lead Coach for Science Katina Dudley, CATEC's Assistant Principal Anthony Smith has forged relationships to install CATEC-made bee houses for native leafcutter bees and planting wildflower gardens at local schools.
On Tuesday, June 8, the group installed bee houses and wildflower gardens at Meriwether Lewis Elementary. They worked with third grade teacher Anne Straume's and PE teacher Andrew Wymer's class. The students assembled the bee houses, dug out holes for the posts that hold up the bee houses, and prepared the wildflower area. On Wednesday, June 9, they repeated the process at Scottsville Elementary, where they worked with the students in LeAnna Dalton's and Michelle Valentino's first grade class as well as the students in Reva Allen's and Chrystsine Fayard's third grade class.
This collaboration is a continuation of CATEC's commitment to working with local schools. In April, Smith helped launch the first round of bee houses at Monticello High School with Stanek. The bee houses are made of cedar, which was graciously donated to CATEC by Gaston and Wyatt, an architectural millwork company located in Charlottesville. Look for these CATEC-branded bee houses when you are out and about in our community.
Photos courtesy of Chris Stanek and Willy Kjellstrom.