As this year continues, Ms. Jeanine Ging, sixth grade science teacher, has started a monarch waystation for the sixth graders. A lot of people don’t know what the monarch waystation is. It is quite simple. It is a butterfly garden with tons of plants so the caterpillars can have an amazing habitat to start their lives in. Once the monarchs are fully grown Ging and her students let them migrate through paths to get to Mexico.  We have been provided the opportunity to build this garden to provide the caterpillars with awesome lives. 

What is a monarch waystation? Lots of people are unaware of how these help and or what they even are! To describe it we could say that it is an area where people put caterpillars so they can roam freely and chrysalis. Once they are ready to migrate to Mexico the owner of them will let them go so they stay together like a pack or a group! In the waystation, there are tons of plants and amazing food for butterflies, such as flowers and leaves.

“We are getting the fourth or fifth generation of monarchs that come through,” states Ging. When they are about halfway through the United States they will lay their eggs and die. That next generation will travel to North America into Canada, lay their new eggs then die. 

Lots of monarchs come to this waystation because it has lots of milkweed which they will eat and lay their eggs on. 

“It provides them with a source of food, it provides them with a place to lay their eggs, and a bonus, our courtyard also has a water feature!” states Ging. Ging started the monarch waystation because she loved butterflies. She thinks they are very cool and remembers raising them when she was back in elementary school.

“Over the years I’ve done a lot of research. I’ve done a lot of experimenting and working with monarchs,” states Ging. We now know that the monarchs have a safe place so we can continue the fourth generation. We were able to start the waystation last year for $16,000.

“Last year I got what’s called a Steam Catalyst grant for $16,000” stated Ging. “We were able to renovate the courtyard classroom.” 

Now we have a beautiful monarch waystation that is safe and perfect for the butterflies!