Yale University welcomed and honored a 9-year-old upcoming scientist who was wrongfully reported to the police after being spotted spraying lanternflies. 

Last year, young Bobbi Wilson–who is fascinated by bugs–learned about the invasive species in school and wanted to help. 

“I mixed water, dish soap and apple cider vinegar,” she said. 

When Bobbi used this special spray outside her New Jersey home, a neighbor called the police.

There’s a little Black woman walking and spraying stuff on the sidewalks and trees. I don’t know what the hell she’s doing. Scares me though,” the neighbor told a 911 operator. 

Monique Joseph, Bobbi’s mother, told CBS New York the neighbor was racially profiling her daughter. 

Ijeoma Opara, a Yale School of Public Health assistant professor, heard Bobbi’s story and decided to take the young entomologist under her wing. “Oh yeah, Bobbi belongs here. Bobbi is Yale,” said Opara. Bobbi was invited to the campus to meet scientists who look like her.

Bobbi was then invited back to see the first spotted lanternfly specimens that she collected, added to the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History collection.

The young scientist said that the experience made her “happy and proud.” She now has an even more desire to seek a career in science.

According to Yale, Bobbi is the youngest person to ever submit specimens to their collections.

Congratulations, Bobbi!