Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Rain Garden/Green Wall


The Vincennes University Biology club has had a great year. We applied for and were awarded a GreenVU grant to build a rain garden and a green wall. We were able to get matching funding from the Knox County United Way because it was a water quality project. We also got funding from the student government association to make the project even better. We talked to local greenhouses and got discounts on plants and materials. We teamed up with the horticulture club, and they came up with a great design for the project. Here is a picture of the very loud air conditioner that is by the entrance to our career center.


Here is an after picture

These trees will continue to grow and provide a sight and sound barrier from this AC unit. All the employees at the career center are very grateful.

The other part of the project was a rain garden, which will keep puddles from forming and will also help clean the water. Here are some before pictures:

After:


Some students hard at work:

The educational thank you sign

Monday, May 24, 2010

LSU Lab School wins grant, participates in Coastal Roots

Planet Connect Grant Winner
LSU Lab School’s Environmental/BioClub is one of ten winners of the Planet Connect $1000 grant. They were chosen based on their proposal for a rain garden and storm water control. Congratulations to MerryJean Losso, Lindsey McCain, Mr. Babcock and the rest of the club.

Coastal Roots Project
Students from the LSU Laboratory School and Westdale Heights Academic Elementary Magnet School traveled to Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville, La, to participate in a coastal restoration planting with the LSU Coastal Roots Program. Having grown southern bald cypress, oak and loblolly pine trees in our school’s can yard under the guidance of LSU College of Education faculty, the students transplanted the seedlings to the new site to provide food and habitat for the site’s animals, as well as to provide a way to stabilize the soil there. Plants grown by the students in their school-based nurseries are chosen by the restoration site manager based on particular location’s needs.

BioClub Midland Park High School

The Midland Park High School's Bilogy club has been involved in a variety of activities. We build bird houses, did some research on how packing peanuts disintegrate, set up a water garden and used our microscopes to discover the unvisible world of microbes!

Our biggest project this year was to build bird houses and hang them up on school grounds. The students organized two fundraising events (mud cup sales, always a big success!) to fund the project. At the moment our members try to solve the following problem:"Why did our water garden turn green?"

Thanks a lot to George Sellers for all his hard work, to the NABT for the green cords (the kids just loved the ceremony!) and to Carolina for sponsoring the Clubs!

Raina Parvanov-Dawson
Midland Park High School

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Prince of Peace BioClub Busy Year





Prince of Peace College Preparatory, in Clinton IA on the Mississippi River hosted all elementary and middle school classes at our small K-12 school for National Chemistry Week's "Mole Day" by preparing scented sugar scrubs and hosting a hand-washing extravaganza. The founding Advanced Placement Biology class worked with their teacher to "de-bug" a cheap and fast enzyme assay that works well for students to investigate their own questions on how enzymes really work. The club took a spring field trip to the Devonian Fossil Gorge in Coralville IA, where fossil-rich bedrock was uncovered by the disastrous floods of 2008. In the first week of May, BioClub and other High School classes created experiments for "hands-on" National Lab Week experiments for elementary classes.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Douglas High BioClub




The BioClub of Douglas High School in Douglas, Alabama has 86 members. Our club participates in many altruistic events through out the year. Our club does not have a requirement for altruism but many of our members are very aware of the needs of our community and surrounding areas. We take a trip to Six Flags each year during the Science and Math days in April. Members must earn the right to purchase tickets by participating in at least two altruistic events during the year. We have great participation among our members, we take around 52 students each year to Six Flags.



Our BioClub has participated in many events at our school this year. We work with the Chorus Director of our school to help make an awesome Veteran's Day Event. We help each year by providing paper products and the students themselves volunteer their time during school and after school to make it possible.



The BioClub has an annual Tree Planting Ceremony. Each year the club honors a retiring teacher by planting a tree or beautification around sidewalks, and holds a breakfast with special speakers to honor that teacher. This year the club honored Mrs. June Jenkins shown below with club officers and student speaker.