For Pollinator Protection Week, Berne-Knox-Westerlo students on June 16 visited the Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center to learn about bees. First, state officials — Kathy Moser from the Department of Environmental Conservation, and Tom Alworth, from the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation — talked about the importance of pollinators to New York’s food production, adding $500 million annually to the value of food crops. Then, the kids got down to hands-on learning.

Terrice Bassler, a Berne native who has spent a career working on building education in developing nations across the world, will lead a group to work on the large project for a small town.