Lil' Dudes Insect Academy

LET US KNOW WHO YOU ARE SO WE CAN BEST SERVE YOU

Nearly all children are interested in, curious about, or fear bugs. This natural phenomanon creates an environment for learning about them. Entomology is the gateway (drug) to the sciences. Entomology provides a natural onramp for learning about other sciences, mathematics, and technology. Bradon's unique perspective also allows students to see how engineering and the liberal arts have helped him collect, record, learn and teach others about the littlest and most interesting of these creatures.

Insects are ten-fold the largest group of any living organism on the planet. Insects are paramount to modern food production, but are also responsible for the greatest yearly human death toll. Without insects, we wouldn’t have some of the most important medications that we use every single day. Without insects, we wouldn’t have the complex understanding of the principles of genetic inheritance. Without insects, humans could not survive. Despite our naive reliance on these small creatures, there are still only an estimated 7,000 Entomologists worldwide. Could you even fathom what the world, our food supply, and the medical field would look like if there were more Entomologists? Lil Dudes Insect Academy was created to help solve this issue.

"Look deep, deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." – Albert Einstein

The Lil Dudes Mission:

Firstly, awareness. Most people don’t know what Entomology is, much less consider it as a legitimate career path. A staggering majority of Entomologists weren’t even introduced to Entomology until college. We strive to introduce Entomology as a career option to Middle School and High School students.

What Lil Dudes Does:

We help equip future Entomologists by providing integral resources through a weekly Podcast, YouTube videos, online resources, and eventually an online academy.

How do we do this?

We are proud to be a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We collect donations and grants to fund these programs. Not only are we introducing Entomology to students, but we are also able to reach underprivileged students, due to generous donors. If you are interested in investing in the future of Science, click here to donate.

Student Testimonials:

Abby- "It's great that I now have a kit of tools and everything I need to pin my own bugs at home. I can pretend to have my own museum!"

Anya- "I loved the field trip where we caught our own bugs to pin!"

Jacque- "My daughter age 12 attended Bradon's bug classes and absolutely loved each one. We attended the whole series and each class she built on the skills she learned from the previous. Bradon was able to share his love and enthusiasm of bugs and is very knowledgeable about each specimen we pinned."

Mary- "Bradon prepared and organized the event, even arranging to have his entomologist mentor come and teach the class with him. We enjoyed a fantastic morning of learning and fun with hands-on bug-pinning experience to boot!"

Kael- My children and I have taken an entomology class from Bradon and I was impressed by his depth of knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject. We learned a lot about beetles and my kids went home inspired to look, pay attention, and really notice the tiny creatures that are all around us. Bredon’s class was full of new information and amazing photographs and included an outdoor hands-on lesson on how to pin beetle. Also, he shared with us his personal collection of pinned insects which was very impressive!