Local elementary aims to find Oklahoma’s ugliest bug for a chance to win microscopes

SILO, Okla. (KXII) – Fourth grade science teacher at Silo Elementary Lindsay Owens says her class went on a hunt to find the ugliest bug in Oklahoma.

“They brought in insects, I set them up, we had judges come in and actually pick the top ones that we had, the top three,” Owens said.

That’s how Silo Elementary student Owen Bacu found his eastern Hercules beetle while visiting a family member’s house.

“I was just scraping around the leaves and I lifted up a rock and it was just there,” Bacu stated.

Bacu’s beetle was selected to be entered into the Oklahoma Microscopy Society Ugly Bug Contest, for a chance to win microscopes for the class.

“I was like, “this isn’t real,” Bacu said. “And then all my friends were like, “I know I’m so excited,” he added.

Owens says contests like these are helping to shape the next generation of scientists.

“They’re wanting to promote science and using microscopes and seeing how there’s things that are not always as they seem and how they’re different when they’re blown up,” Owens said.

Owens says winning microscopes for the class will help expose students to experimenting and learning about their environment.

“Seeing them excited about something that isn’t sports or art, the typical things, it really warms my heart and getting them to question things, its a higher level of thinking,” Owens stated.

“Some stuff looks so cool and then stuff like that is mind-blowing,” Bacu said.

You can vote for your school’s ugly bug on the Oklahoma Microscopy Society website until February 12th.

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