Two Black Hawk College students have received $500 scholarships because of their efforts to study bees through a BHC program.
East Campus students Emily Vintika of Genoa and Nicolas Sierra of Kewanee received the inaugural Eddy Scholarship from River Action, a local nonprofit organization.
The Eddy awards recognize “talent, perseverance, initiative, and going against the current as in an eddy, but in academic fields.”
Vintika, Sierra and Isaac Stewart, assistant professor of biology, have been studying the bee population at Illiniwek Forest Preserve in Hampton. Illiniwek will use the data to track the effectiveness of its efforts to encourage pollinator diversity.
The team discovered what bee species are at specific sites in the forest preserve by conducting a bee inventory. The students collected bees with a bug net then identified more than 40 species.
Read more about their efforts »
The River Action Eddy Scholarship awards are sponsored by the Joyce and Tony Singh Family Foundation. Pictured are Kathy Wine from River Action, Tony Singh, Emily Vintika, Nicolas Sierra and Joyce Singh.