Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years.
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I would like to dedicate today’s blog to Mr. Adam West. Adam West was the actor who played Batman on TV in the 1960s. He was in a lot of other shows and movies too. Mr. West passed away on June 9th.
On a happier note, the LEGO League Global Innovation Award competition is going to be held in Washington, DC next week. This is a competition that encourages kids to develop solutions to real life problems. One team that is competing this year is from Iowa. This group of kids has designed a new type of bat house for little brown bats. As you know, little brown bats are in a lot of trouble because of White Nose Syndrome, so they could really use the help.
The bat house that this group has developed is a completely new design. It is made out of a plumbing pipe instead of wood. This makes the house round, which the team believes is a better design. Also, these houses have little water reservoirs so that the bats can drink some water when they wake up. The absolute greatest thing about these houses is that bats seem to really like them. They have put up 35 of these houses so far, and the bats have moved in!
If you would like to read more about this project, you can find information here. If you would like to learn more about the LEGO League Global Innovation Award, you can find information here.
I am sad that I probably won’t be able to go see them because I still have 1 more week of school, but I would like to wish this group the very best of luck in the competition. I think their project is amazing!
I hope you all have a good week!
[There are many fine examples of young people helping solve environmental issues in the Lego League FIRST competition. Please check out all the projects in the link above--Ed.]