CHICAGO, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — Earlier this month, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker designated the black and gold bumblebee as the official Illinois State Bee, following a year of advocacy from students from an 8th-grade science class.
Last year, students at Naperville’s Lincoln Junior High School led an initiative to grant the black and gold bumblebee as the state’s official bee, following a research assignment on bee species native to Illinois.
Students picked the black and gold bumblebee because it serves as a critical prairieland pollinator that boosts Illinois’s natural ecosystem.
“Illinois is home to extraordinary insects and wildlife, each with an essential role to play in keeping our ecosystems thriving, and the hardest working of all is the bee,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “The students at Lincoln Junior High School recognized the impact the black and gold bumblebee has on our state’s natural environment, a source of great pride to all who call Illinois home. They demonstrated the power of young people brought together by curiosity and civic engagement, and in doing so, left their mark on our state.”…