Monarch Butterflies Nurtured by Howard County Students

Thanks to the generosity of local nature lovers and the support of The Howard Hughes Corporation, third grade students in Howard County will get a hands-on experience nurturing the transformation of caterpillars into Monarch Butterflies.

During this year’s Giving Tuesday, the Howard County Conservancy offered donors the opportunity of doubling their gift through a matching $1,500 contribution from The Howard Hughes Corporation. The Conservancy was overwhelmed when HHC’s $1,500 gift garnered another $7,500, for a record-breaking total of $9,000 in contributions to help fund the Conservancy’s Monarch Butterfly Education Program with the Howard County Public School System which provides students the unique opportunity to observe close-up the full life cycle of a butterfly in the classroom – from chrysalis to Monarchs.

The idea for the match by HHC came from Arianne Monroe, the attorney for HHC in the Columbia Regional Office who serves on the Conservancy’s Development Committee. Monroe saw the symbolism of HHC’s redevelopment of Downtown Columbia: the transformation of raw land into a beautiful new community of residences, offices, stores and gathering places. Symphony Woods, she noted, already includes the striking amphitheatre called the Chrysalis, and there are plans for a future building called the Butterfly.

The Conservancy is a leader in environmental education with the largest land trust in Howard County with two nature centers, Mt. Pleasant in Woodstock and Belmont in Elkridge. Programs hosted by the Conservancy reached over 18,000 students in 14 counties and provided training for over 700 teachers through a 15-year partnership with the Howard County Public School System. The Monarch Butterfly program coincides with a third grade unit in which students study life cycles of plants and animals, including growing milkweed plants, the food for the Monarchs, from seed.