Grand Rapids — A special delivery recently came to fifth-graders at Southwest Elementary Academia Bilingüe from Mexico — a manila envelope filled with dozens of bright, multicolored paper butterflies made by students from all over the U.S. and Canada.
“Whoa!” fifth-grader Nathaniel Sosa exclaimed as he sifted through the contents of the envelope. “It looks beautiful!”
The butterflies had been to Mexico and back as part of the Symbolic Monarch Migration project, which is facilitated at GRPS by John Ball Zoo through its Habitat Hero program.
‘In my opinion, this is so beautiful to see, with every city, every state, how their butterflies look.’
— fifth-grader Nathaniel Sosa
Six months ago, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders from 13 GRPS schools decorated life-size monarch butterflies of their own, and sent them to three schools in Mexico, mimicking the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, explained Kailey Hoffman, Habitat Hero educator.
Schools all over the country did the same. The students in Mexico took what they received, and, after a “hibernation” period, sent the butterflies back up north, along with notes of greeting. The butterflies went to the Symbolic Monarch Migration homebase in Georgia, where the monarchs were shuffled up so they’d complete their “migration” in a different state than the one from which they originally set off.
Nathaniel, along with fellow fifth-graders Imagine Pantoja Lopez and Alexa Torantes, were the first at Southwest to get a look at the butterflies that ended up back at their school. The fact that they knew the package was coming didn’t make it any less exciting.
“This is from the city of Arlington Heights, Illinois!” Nathaniel announced, holding up a black-and-orange-colored paper monarch.
It was really something, he said, to see the diversity of what landed at Southwest.
“In my opinion, this is so beautiful to see, with every city, every state, how their butterflies look,” he said. “Each and every one of them is unique. Each one of them has their own great colors, and each one of them looks different from the last.”
Alexa was similarly enthusiastic.
“It’s really cool, seeing it come from different parts of the U.S.,” she said. “It’s just really nice.”
Imagine said the butterfly project meant a lot to her because of a personal connection to Mexico.
“It was my first time actually sending stuff to Mexico, because I have family there and I have friends that go to school there,” she said.
The Monarch Migration project is new to John Ball Zoo and GRPS this year, and Hoffman said it fits nicely with Habitat Hero programming.
“This is the first time we’ve done the Symbolic Monarch Migration, but the second year that we’ve done Habitat Hero as a year-long program,” she explained. “We’re teaching kids about pollinators, (and) we’re working with the schools and the children to make habitats more accessible in schoolyards and neighborhoods. We’re trying to keep wild places wild and teach the kids how to do that.”
Hoffman said the Monarch Migration program will “absolutely” continue in the future.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to just keep growing the project,” she said.
Read more from Grand Rapids:
• Reading challenge leads to lessons in art, geography & more
• Braille & beyond: Students learn about navigating an unseen world
