Mark Snyder’s eighth-grade government students at Shirland School have been studying the meaning of citizenship and its rights, duties and responsibilities.

One of the responsibilities of citizenship is to be engaged in your community. As a way to put that responsibility into practice and as a culmination of the study, students select a topic of interest or concern, research it and write a letter to the editor.

"As their teacher, I often find myself disagreeing with the opinions of my students, and the students often disagree with each other as well," Snyder writes. "Part of responsible citizenship is learning to appreciate the opinions of others civilly, even when those opinions differ from our own."

Student letters will appear on these pages in the coming weeks.

Bees are one of the most vital parts of our ecosystem, yet their numbers are decreasing because of us.

Each year my garden and prairie are affected by the decrease in bee population. We need to save the bees.

One way we can save the bees is to not spray pesticides on your yard.

Bees help pollinate over half of the United States’ plants and crops. Ohio State University states, “In the United States, honeybees alone provide pollination services valued at $15 billion to $20 billion annually.”

Therefore, bees in America have a very important role in not only the environment, but also on us, economically.

The amount of bee colonies in the U.S. has decreased dramatically.

Ohio State University states, “Since 2006, commercial beekeepers in the United States have reported honeybee colony loss rates averaging 30% each winter.”

This is a staggering rate that affects the agriculture industry everywhere, every day.

A big way bee colonies are decreasing is pesticide use.

The National Library of Medicine states that pesticides “can cause enormous damage to bees’ nervous systems and permanently weaken their immune system, making them vulnerable to other factors.”

This quote demonstrates the dangers of pesticides towards bees and how vulnerable they can become because of them.

To protect the bees, you can stop using pesticides such as Roundup, Gowan, Bayer CropScience, and more.

Also, to help bees thrive you can plant flowers, trees, and keep your yard a safe environment.

Etta Lewis, Rockton