Senior students in JVS carpentry program were excited to finish a project they started last school year—bat boxes for the Lorain County Metro Parks! 

Christopher Jones, senior carpentry student from Avon Lake, shared that it was great to be back at school. “Overall, it is so great to be back and to be able to finish projects that we couldn’t last year.” 

Back in January, Rachel Kalizewski, Lorain County Metro Parks naturalist at the French Creek Nature Center, stopped out to the JVS to meet with the carpentry program about this project. 

“This all started with me looking the JVS up online and simply reaching out to the carpentry program, explaining the project, sharing that all the supplies would be included and now here we are,” said Kalizewski. 

For Kalizewski, the goal of this nesting box project is to increase biodiversity in a meadow situated within the park by providing areas for animals to safely nest or roost. Animals that tend to use these boxes eat a variety of insects, which meadows provide. “The hope is that these boxes will increase the number of these animals in the park.” 

 

For Jones, the project shifted considerably from when they left in March. “When we started the bat box project last year, it was a little difficult, but I learned a lot more over the summer working as an intern at Mitchell Woodworking in Amherst. Coming back now for my senior year, and picking up with this project, it was much easier, and we moved a lot faster too.” 

“Being able to get these bat boxes built will help give homes for the animals that are losing their spaces to habitat destruction,” shared Kalizewski. “I think they turned out phenomenal. They are going to make great additions to our nesting box project as well as future interpretive programming. I can’t wait to get them installed.”