Girl Scout Wins Gold with Pollinator Lesson Plan
Girl Scout Emily Mayo with Troop 673 in Fort Myers is being recognized for a project close to the hearts of many gardeners — advocating the importance of pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, to our gardens and food supply.
The Girl Scout Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting. This award recognizes girls who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through a remarkable "Take Action" project that has sustainable impact in their community and beyond. This award is so respected that Gold Award Girl Scouts who go on to join the armed services enter at one rank higher than other recruits!
Emily’s idea for a project really took shape after she attended a presentation called “Gardening for Pollinators” at the UF/IFAS Extension Collier County. She developed a lesson plan called “Power to Pollinators” targeting 4- to 6-year-olds with Isabel Way (formerly with UF/IFAS Extension Collier County) as her advisor, and additional assistance from Master Gardener volunteers Patsy Sachs and Mike Gott.
The lesson teaches children what pollination is and the importance of bees and butterflies to the process, using facts that are easy to visualize, such as "one in every three bites of food need the help of a pollinator," for example. The children use scrap lumber to help build a native bee house to improve habitat. They take home a flowering native perennial to plant as another way to help the habitat of pollinators. Emily also developed an activity booklet so that the children can share what they learned. The first half of the booklet has fun activities for the children, while the back half has information for adults about the importance of pollinators and how to help them.
Emily Mayo with a poster display from her award-winning lesson plan, "Power to Pollinators."