Cleaning Up and Becoming Aware Will Lead to Student Safety from Bees
With fall coming to a close, there has been a large influx of bees on campus. Most likely attracted by the flowers, the bees have swarmed the school, worrying many students and staff.
In order to address this issue, students need to stay safe by avoiding bees and picking up their trash, while administration needs to extract the bees in a mutually beneficial way and inform students about the dangers of bees and how to stay safe through videos during advisement.
“It scares me that one of these students are going to get stung and shortly after can end up being stung again,” nurse James Matejcek said. “The EpiPen is the only thing that can save them if they go into full anaphylaxis.”
To prevent allergic reactions, students need to constantly be aware of their surroundings and remain calm around bees. Running or attacking bees only aggravates them, making conditions even more dangerous.
“One of the things students need to be aware of is to not swat at bees. When they start swinging at them or swatting at them, it actually causes the bee to get more aggressive,” Matejcek said.
Throwing away trash is one of the most important things students can do to prevent bees from harming them, as the bees have been found to be attracted to the scent of leftover food or trash.
“They are not here to actually sting anybody. Usually they congregate because people at a table will start eating and then leave the food there, so then over 30, 40 minutes they start smelling that food,” assistant principal Jeff Hernandez said. “All these bees here that we have looked into are worker bees, so they’re supposed to take food back to the nest, and that’s what they’re out here looking for.”
Although administration has taken steps to prevent the bees from congregating, such as removing bushes where the bees have gathered, they still need to keep students aware of the issue through bee safety videos during advisement.
“Just keep students informed, I think would be more helpful to make sure no one gets hurt by the bees, especially those who have allergies,” junior Shishir Ravipati said.
Staff and students must work together to ensure that the entire school is safe from bees and the necessary steps to prevent harm are being taken.
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