By Zachary Surchin
On March 1, Ryan Portnoy, a student at Irvington, came up with an idea for a passion project that he believed would better the environment of the school. Portnoy decided to create a bird feeder that would be placed behind the science wing on the side closest to Field Point.
In order to make this happen, Portnoy had to ask the Irvington PTSA to help fund the materials needed to create the bird feeder. After emailing the PTSA, Portnoy was granted permission to spend money provided by the PTSA to purchase the needed equipment.
Portnoy created this project for a variety of different reasons, one reason being that he did some research and found that it was scientifically proven that watching birds can relieve stress for people. This is very important because in the waning months of school, students tend to become very stressed out because it’s their last chance to improve their grades for the year. By allowing students to watch the birds near the school, Portnoy believes this will help some students alleviate stress they experience throughout the school day.
Bird feeders can also help long-term mental health benefits rather than just the short-term. This means that the bird feeder can help students improve their mental health in the short-term future and the long-term future.
Another reason Portnoy created the bird-feeder was for biodiversity in the school. “I wanted to start the bird feeder because I felt the IHS campus lacked wildlife and I thought setting up a bird feeder would be a great way to do this. I already refill mine at home and it will make the campus feel more alive,” Portnoy stated.
Portnoy also wants students at IHS to appreciate birds. He also has future plans to possibly add plants to the school garden. Portnoy wants students to ultimately feel like they can be a part of conservation and bettering the environment.
Portnoy also wants to build off on this project in the future. He wants to potentially establish his very own conservation club at IHS. “Over the course of my time at IHS, I hope to accomplish the creation of a club involving the bird feeder that mainly focuses on the addition of wildlife to the IHS campus. I also plan to report my daily sightings of birds at the bird feeder to a citizen science program known as Ebird,” Portnoy said.
This new bird feeder creation is something that Portnoy hopes to expand on in the future. He believes that things like this could potentially help IHS students learn about nature and help conserve the environment.
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