Before the chilly New England weather sets in, many Wayland High School students enjoy eating their lunch and spending their free time outdoors, often in the courtyard. However, with the large amount of wasps that have infiltrated the area this fall, many students have opted to sit inside.

Although wasp nests have been spotted in previous years, the number of nests has never been as severe as it is now. A number of nests line the outskirts of the north building, but the major hive lies in the clock tower, right next to the main office.

WHS Vice Principal Sean Gass said a number of factors have heightened this year’s situation in contrast to other years, including a warmer fall.

“The seasons are changing, so the wasps have to gather as much food, honey [and] nectar as they can before it gets too cold,” Gass said. “It’s also been a particularly rough year for bees because the amount of rain has kept the [amount of] pollen down.”

The nests have caused various problems, especially during lunch. Since the wasps appeared, they constantly swarm students who choose to sit outside.

“During lunch, I’ll have five bees swarming me and my friends,” sophomore Jenny Shine said. “It’s so stressful and frustrating to the point where there’s simply no way to enjoy lunch outside anymore.”

Students allergic to bees are impacted more severely than others. As a result, they are in a constant state of fear. Since more than five students have already been stung, the risk is as high as ever.

“This was the first time I’ve ever gotten stung by a wasp,” sophomore Sierra Dale said. “I was scared because even though I have an Epipen, I’m allergic to a lot of things.”

School administrators have already attempted to alleviate the problem, but they’re finding it difficult since they must prioritize the safety of students when using pesticides. The school hired an exterminator to spray the nest inside the clock tower two weeks ago, but the impact only lasted a few days. By the next week, the wasps had already rebuilt their nest.

“This morning, we had another exterminator come and use a different kind of poison,” Gass said. “It sticks to the wasps, so when they return to the colony, they drop it off there. It’s generally more effective at wiping out whole hives. Also, over the last week or so, we’ve been doing spot sprays of poison around the trashcans and on the tables in between lunches.”

Exterminators are required to wipe down the tables after spot spraying, so the wasps are repelled, but students can still sit and eat. Since the poison is wiped off, it doesn’t fully keep the wasps away.

Students are also further incentivizing the wasps with their littering of wrappers and food scraps. With lunches at three different times, trash is often left behind with each new wave of students.

“When I see or hear students having particular issues with wasps, it’s most often a large group with a significant amount of trash around them, or a student who is sitting where a group like that just left,” Gass said. “Just leave a half-eaten apple on the grass for an hour, and you will have a dozen hungry bees around at this time of year.”

As professional pest control companies work with administration to fix the issue, Principal Allyson Mizoguchi recommends students take the necessary steps in order to reduce the wasps’ attraction.

“If students were to pick up their trash and wipe off tables, lunch time could be less unnerving and annoying,” Mizoguchi said. “The more we can keep our campus clean outside, the less it will attract unwanted critters.”