The buzz at Bates Middle School this past week was the unveiling of a mosquito sculpture — the product of work largely by students and incorporated into the school’s lessons about nature and the environment.

Science Chair Kim O’Connor said the school involved every student in the project, which was also featured at last weekend’s meeting of the Entomological Society of America’s Eastern Branch at the Westin.

Officials said the larger-than-life mosquito, which landed just right of the Annapolis school’s entrance — could become a national model for mosquito education.

Bates teamed with The Entomological Foundation, a group tied to the Entomological Society of America, to make the sculpture and conduct lessons throughout the year centered on the mosquito and public health. The lessons also incorporated elements of art, engineering, science and math.

“We’re extremely excited that here at Bates, science really is art,” O’Connor said.

Each wing of the scholarly bloodsucker is covered with hundreds of transparency squares, each with different hues and unique lines drawn by the students. The insect was clearly feeding — its proboscis and abdomen are blood red.

And a feeding mosquito has its wings down.

The sunlight will still filter through the colorful wings and shine on the ground below it.

The sculpture is the latest of student-made art pieces permanently installed at Bates, an arts integration school.

Chris Stelzig, who works for both the Annapolis-based Entomological Society and its foundation, said the Bates project may go beyond school grounds.

“We’re hoping to use Bates Middle School as a national model for mosquito education,” he said.

To make the sculpture, the students and teachers at Bates started with a rebar frame and foraged for recyclable materials to decorate the insect.

They collected cans, which were woven and painted to form the insect’s abdomen. The creature’s thorax is covered in plastic bags that were ironed together for durability.

And its eyes are made of bottle caps — small, but still big enough to host mosquito larvae.

Cutting up and sanding the cans, with gloves on, of course, was one of her favorite parts of creating the sculpture, said seventh-grader Sloane Steffens.

Students created poetry, some of it presented at the unveiling. Sixth graders completed a unit on viruses, O’Connor said, with a bigger focus on the role mosquitoes play in spreading disease.

They also learned that standing water — including the water standing in cups and cans on the roadside — can become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Students also tallied up the environmental impact of their sculpture. By using recycled materials, they removed trash that would have otherwise held 59,285 milliliters of water — 42 drink caps, 91 cans and 112 bags.

rpacella@capgaznews.com