Bugs a rite-of-passage in Camp Hill

Camp Hill Middle School science teacher Chad Gallaher has been teaching what has become a rite of passage for Camp Hill seventh graders for 25 years.

“It’s an insect project,” Gallaher said from his science lab in the school, surrounded by this year’s collections, microscopes and other scientific equipment.

It’s more commonly known among Camp Hill families as the “bug project.” Students have two options: They can do a traditional insect collection, but for children who are uncomfortable with and around bugs, they can complete a more research-focused and model-based project.

“They can choose whichever one they and their family are most interested in doing,” Gallaher said. “I would say probably 80% to 90% of the children do the traditional insect collection but there’s a number of children more comfortable selecting a model as a report and they certainly learn a lot about insects as well.”

Gallaher went to Camp Hill High School in the 1980s and completed his own bug project, which he says was an incredible memory for him. “I will never forget it,” he said. “It clearly sparked a fire in me.”

So when he found himself returning to teach the Life Science class to all seventh graders, the project came back.

“When I came back I really wanted to sell that project. It’s not for every single kid and not for every single family, but as teachers, we look for hooks, we look for things to inspire kids. I know that every kid is not gonna be a scientist [but] maybe a handful of kids will become scientists because of something as simple as an insect collection.”

Gallaher meets with sixth graders at the end of their school year to tell them about the project, which gives them the summer to collect and identify at least 40 bugs.

“It becomes a summer project for the children, and their families, because I strongly encourage family participation,” Gallaher said. “It’s a great outing to create a reason to take your child on a camping trip, a hike, a day at the lake. It becomes a memorable experience and creates a lot of great family time which is certainly just a great side effect of the project.”

While the project calls for 40 bugs, kids are encouraged to earn some extra credit by collecting more. One kid this year turned in 123.

“I actually had a student who I taught in middle school who is now an entomologist and she comes back and works with the children here on our camping trip and she has such a great little testimonial on how the bug project played out in her life. She was a girl who loved bugs in a land where sometimes people are like ‘girls shouldn’t love bugs.’ She followed her passion and now she gets paid to study bugs, like the Emerald ash borer.”

The annual project is entrenched in Camp Hill with most students hearing about it well before seventh grade. Some students even start collecting early and save the bugs in their freezer.

“I don’t know how many of my colleagues in other districts do insect collections,” Gallaher said, “I suspect not many. It’s kind of old school.”

There are a few insects that are off limits because of biological concerns, such as honey bees and monarch butterflies and Gallaher won’t allow the kids to collect Praying Mantises. But everything else is pretty much fair game.

A lot of Camp Hill families have kept their child’s bug collection and they are even displayed as a piece of art in their homes. One family displays their collection in the family dining room, according to Gallaher, and they tell him it has been such an amazing conversation piece.

Once graded, 75% of the insect collections go home with students while some are kept to be used as an example for next year’s children of what a good project looks like.

“Mostly kids will take them home,” Gallaher said. “An insect collection will preserve for years and years. The rest we use when teaching children how to use a microscope. It’s really cool to put a bee head under the microscope and see the eyes and all the mouth parts!”

Do you know a student, teacher or staff member in an area school doing something interesting that would make a great photo story? Please contact Staff Photographer Mark Pynes at mpynes@pennlive.com.

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