Over the past two months, Milkweed plants were grown by a group of ten YIC in order to provide way stations for migrating Monarch butterflies to lay their eggs. Just last week these plants were finally large enough to leave the greenhouse and be planted around the community! STEMCAP staff helped to pick the plants up from the YIC center and distribute the plants to partners around the Salt Lake Valley and beyond. Community partners were ecstatic to receive these healthy milkweed plants and are excited to begin watching out for Monarch butterfly eggs on the leaves when they are fully grown.
Today a celebration was in order to commemorate the hard work the YIC did on this project. Because the project was conducted remotely this year, the full responsibility of planting and caring for the milkweed plants was put solely on the staff and students at the center. The students did a fantastic job and successfully grew around 250 Milkweed seedlings. At this celebratory wrap-up meeting the students reflected on the project and were shown pictures of their milkweed seedlings being planted around the community. In addition, our partner from Southwestern Monarch Study shared comments from thankful community members. At the end of the meeting the students reported that they were already looking forward to the Monarch project for next year – and STEMCAP staff whole-heatedly agreed!