A yearlong project for students in Newtown High School's Skills21 class, taught by NHS library/media specialist Liza Zandonella, has earned the class the Sustainability Challenge Award at the recent Expo Fest.class's website

The Skills21 class, an EdAdvance program, has students work together on a project for the entire school year. After studying the reasons behind the declining bee population, the class presented its final presentation at the Expo Fest, which was held at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford May 19 to 21 and brought Skills21 students together from throughout the state. The class chose a group name for the Expo Fest of "Bees and Love."

For this year's project the class also worked together in Darryl Nicholson's earth and energy essentials (E3) science class to study different aspects of how to help the decreasing bee population.

and more.Students took on different roles in the class to oversee separate parts of the project. Some students oversaw the science experiments, others helped oversee social media and the

"The problem that we are focusing on is bee decline," the website explains. "The main cause of this decline is due to the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are dangerous and harmful chemicals used on plants, which harm not only unwanted bugs, but bees as well. Bees perform a critical function by pollinating most of the fruits and vegetables that we eat and depend on everyday. Their essential roles help maintain biodiversity and regulate our food supply through pollination. Without them our food chain will collapse."

The website outlined the class's mission to raise awareness of the problem. The website also shares information from the class's research and ways people can help, like growing a wildflower garden or building bee hotels for solitary bees.

In the science class the students worked on three different experiments. One experiment had them testing natural pest repellents, another experiment tested plant growth in organic soil compared to Miracle Gro, and the third experiment had students test plant growth with full spectrum light against florescent light.

For the main experiment of testing natural pest repellents the students used plants from the NHS greenhouse that were heavily infested with aphids.

"We set up the plants and monitored aphid infestation, soil temperature, soil moisture, and light," the website reads. "Each plant was sprayed daily with essential oil solutions that we created. The solutions were created using distilled water infused with garlic, thyme, peppermint, and cinnamon."

After three weeks the students noticed the cinnamon and the garlic solutions worked best against the aphids, according to the website.

For the light test, the students noticed the plants grew more under full spectrum light. After speaking with the Newtown Garden Club, Ms Zandonella said, the students learned that Miracle-Gro and other similar products are discouraged. It then tested Miracle-Gro against organic soil. When comparing the growth of the plants in Miracle-Gro against organic soil, the students found similar growth and therefore recommended on its website that gardeners use organic soil.

Neonicotinoids, which are frequently used in insecticides and pesticides, are detrimental to bees, Ms Zandonella explained, and they are used in most pesticides and insecticides. The science experiments were designed to find alternatives.

After completing all of the experiments, related projects, and submitting the entire final presentation to the Expo Fest, the class then had to present their project. A booth was set up at the expo, and a group of the students shared the presentation.

All of the class's work earned the Sustainability Challenge Award, according to Ms Zandonella, and the group has been asked to present again on June 10 at Mystic Aquarium's World Oceans Day celebration.

"I'm incredibly proud of and impressed with the students dedication and commitment," Ms Zandonella said after the Expo Fest. "It's clear that they really care about spreading awareness of bee decline and what we can all do to help create a more sustainable environment in our own backyards in which bees can thrive. From the get-go they were very invested in the project's outcome. It wasn't just about learning information literacy and technology skills - what was so special about this project is that it gave them an opportunity to collaboratively develop a solution to an authentic, real-world problem."

Students in the class are Richie Gairing, Sara Snellman, Declan O'Grady, Kirby Mastrocola, Johanna Tartaglia, Nidhi Soman, Payge Shaw, Casey Dunn, and Jamie Davis.

Along with its website, the class also created NHSBeesAndLove Twitter account, a Bees and Love Facebook page, and a YouTube account, also called, Bees and Love. According to the students, the social media accounts will continue to be updated, despite the course ending with the school year.