Local teacher creates video to share the Princeton ‘million cicada chorus’ experience with his high school students
Princeton resident Andrew Koontz, a Mercer County Commissioner who teaches film and television at Hightstown High, created a short video for the school’s newsletter, the Ram Report, about the Brood X cicadas that emerged in recent weeks after 17 years in the ground. Koontz calls the whirling sounds the insects make the “million cicada chorus.” His video provides some background about the cicadas that people in Princeton seem to either love or hate, seeing them as either a welcome visitor or an annoyance. Koontz, who lived in Princeton in 2004 when the cicadas last emerged, says it seems like there are more cicadas this time around. But he says he’s glad to experience the cicada cacophony that will not happen again until 2038.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
Andrew Koontz captured the magnitude of the Cicada phenomenon. It is important that this infrequent event is memorialized.