Bugs, bugs, bugs!: Whitehaven students watch teachers eat insects after studying entomology

On Monday morning, students filtered into the cafeteria at Whitehaven Elementary STEM School, as the song “The Ants Go Marching” played through a speaker. Then, once more than 300 children had packed into the space, the school’s principal, Tommy Elliott, asked them a question.

“What are we doing today?” he said. “We’re eating what?”

“Bugs!” the students cried enthusiastically.

“I can’t hear you!” Elliot said. “We’re eating what?”

“Bugs!” the students shouted again, louder this time.

It wasn’t long before Elliott was dangling a dead, giant cricket in the air, asking “I’ve got to eat this? I’ve got to eat this?” The students gave him a resounding yes, then counted down from five and cried “Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!”

Elliott ate it, and the kids cheered wildly. After he downed the cricket, it was time for the school's new teachers to boldly eat a bug, and they had a variety to choose from. On a stage was a table Elliott referred to as a “bug buffet,” which contained grasshoppers, salted black ants, tarantula chunks, centipedes, stink bugs, armor tail scorpions, cicadas, larvets, giant crickets, and centipedes all displayed on silver colored plates.

Teachers would either hesitantly or excitedly step onto the stage, select a bug, listen to the students shout “eat it” and provide a countdown, then shove the creature into their mouth as the crowd cheered. Often, they’d quickly follow this by gulping water to wash it down. One teacher even participated by padding her blueberry muffin with salted black ants, so she wouldn’t have to eat them on their own.

And as bizarre as this all may seem, it’s a tradition at Whitehaven Elementary STEM.

Why eat bugs?

Monday morning was World Edible Insect Day, and the K-5 school has marked the “holiday” with the event for the last eight years. Often, it has served as a sort of rite of passage for Whitehaven Elementary STEM's new teachers, who are typically among those eating the bugs.

But it’s also much more than this. Students each pay $2 to attend the event in the cafeteria, with the proceeds going to the sustainability-oriented nonprofit Clean Memphis, one of the school’s community partners. This year, the event brought in $618 and it capped a quarter at the school that was focused on entomology, the study of insects.

Students learned about careers as entomologists. They went to the school’s courtyard to identify insects, like dragonflies, butterflies, and bees. And they learned about entomophagy, the practice of eating insects. Even if this isn’t common in the U.S., the children found that the bugs are regularly consumed by people around the world, and often packed with protein.

The students also answered the question, “How could eating bugs benefit human society?”

“A lot of them talked about the protein, and third world countries, where it's a normal thing,” Elliott told The Commercial Appeal. “You had one student say, ‘You have a cow that drinks so much water, whereas a cricket drinks 10 times to 20 times less water. So, if we ate more crickets there’s more water on earth for humans.’”

While people might not give up their burgers for crickets, the question allowed the students to think in a different way, just as the focus on entomology gave them the chance to learn about a career field they wouldn’t have necessarily been exposed to otherwise ― which is largely the point.

Every quarter, the school’s grade levels focus on a STEM career. In the first quarter, the entire school focused on entomology, and in the next quarter, each grade will look at a different one. Kindergarteners, for example, will learn about zoology, while first graders will study agriculture, and take a trip to Agricenter International. At various times, students will also study areas like geology and oceanography.

But don’t expect them to forget about the insects any time soon.

'What it's about'

As teacher after teacher stepped up to the stage to eat a bug, the students’ excitement level didn’t diminish. When the teachers in the cafeteria had finished sampling the insects ― though one doggedly refused to ― Elliott called two surprised parents forward to participate, before turning to the event’s “special guests.” I ended up being one of them, and I had the audacity to try eating two giant crickets at once ― which isn’t something I’d recommend doing unless you’ve got a bottle of water handy, because boy were they dry.

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While the students didn’t eat any of the insects, they seemed more than content to watch. Their cheers were so loud you’d have thought they were rooting for Grizzlies stars in a playoff game and not teachers trying out cicadas and sago worms.

And hey, who knows? Maybe some of them will end up becoming entomologists ― just as others could end up becoming zoologists or geologists.

“That exposure, that's what it's about,” Elliott said. “Because you just never know what kid will really find an interest and continue to pursue that.”

John Klyce covers education and children's issues for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at John.klyce@commercialappeal.com

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis-Shelby County Schools students watch teachers eat bugs for charity