Food for thought: Upper St. Clair project combines science, literature
Looking for a creative new way to learn? If so, you might want to consider a little “birdseed.”
While not the traditional food associated with birds, a group of creative students at Upper St. Clair High School is in the process of placing birdfeeders filled with “seeds,” printed papers that have a scientific abstract on one side and a poem on the other, throughout the township.
The Birdfeeder Project is the vision of Mahima Reddy, a high school senior with an interest in science and a passion for literature and poetry. While attending a summer program at Carnegie Mellon University at which a speaker encouraged the students to “do what they love,” Mahima wanted to find a way to combine science and literature.
Inspired by the Pittsburgh Poetry Houses, Mahima saw the Birdfeeder Project as a way not only to provide some food for thought, but also to create more interest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics).
Mahima brought her idea to the editorial staff of Upper St. Clair High School’s literary magazine, The Montage, for which she is editor-in-chief. Since the staff had recently expanded magazine submissions to include scientific papers, they saw the Birdfeeder Project as an outreach project for their organization.
Assisting Mahima with the Birdfeeder Project are Devon Garcia, Gracie Eden and Alexa Rieger. In addition to working on prototype birdfeeders and raising money to purchase them, the Upper St. Clair seniors are collecting student-produced scientific abstracts and poetry for the material that will be in each feeder. As an additional challenge to the editorial staff, each “seed” will include a concise explanation in science writing style of why a certain poem and abstract complement each other to show the interconnectedness of the sciences and arts.
The Montage team is seeking permission to hang their birdfeeders at various locations throughout the township, to make their “birdseed” available to the public.
The team is also looking to expand their project beyond Upper St. Clair, as they plan to reach out to local high schools to invite them to launch their own Birdfeeder Project.
By expanding the project, Mahima said there will be more content that is representative of the Pittsburgh region. To that end, she created a website where individuals or high schools can submit original poetry and/or abstracts.
“Our main purpose is to educate people about how interconnected science and the arts are,” said Mahima. “We want to inspire more STEAM interest.”
For more information, visit the birdfeederpgh.weebly.com, or to donate to the Birdfeeder Project, contact the team at birdfeederpgh@gmail.com.