Honeycomb Packing Topic at Hitchcock

By Mackenzie Stone, Holyoke High School, Grade 10

July 23 2018

Editor’s note: Mackenzie joined the Hitchcock Center this summer through a partnership program with Girls, Inc. of Holyoke. During her time at Hitchcock, she was able to meet and learn from all Center staff as well as help with Hitchcock’s Nature Summer Camp‘s Patterns in Nature Session. Here, MacKenzie shares some of her observations from camp.

These past two weeks I have been doing an externship/internship at the Hitchcock Center for the environment. An externship is a way for me to build on already known skills. I was placed in a job shadowing “externship” in which I can connect more deeply with one field and develop hard skills that I can use on college applications.

My first two weeks I worked in the Young Naturalists group with ages 5-7. I helped counselors keep track of kids, went on field trips, played games, and explored in the woods. There is a daily theme here at the camp, and campers come in every morning to a question or topic on a white board. Their duty is to either answer the question or draw something they know related to the topic.

During those 2 weeks I went over many different topics with campers. First we went over patterns in everyday objects, then it was camouflage, lastly it was packing. The topic that struck me the most with excitement was packing. We learned how bees create their honeycombs. The campers were able to play a role of a bee with a choice of being a honey, worker, mommy or collecting bee. This topic was my favorite because the campers were so into it. The children went outside and collected different flowers that they noticed more bees were attracted to.

I do not go outside very often. I don’t feel comfortable with the amount of bugs in the woods, but I did end up being outside a lot and noticing that it is not as bad as I thought. Being outside was great and learning along with campers was also very outstanding. All in all the campers here learn a ton day to day about many things. They also seem to enjoy it very much. My experience working with the campers has been outstanding and I am so glad to have this opportunity.