Three months ago, 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson was reported to police for trying to kill dangerous spotted lanternflies, an invasive species that kills trees, in Caldwell, New Jersey. Now she has been honored by the Yale School of Public Health.

On Jan. 20, Wilson visited Yale for a ceremony to honor her work to eradicate spotted lanternflies. She also donated her personal lanternfly collection to Yale’s Peabody Museum, which is now entered into the museum’s database, listing Bobbi’s name as the donor scientist.

Yale School of Public Health Assistant Professor Ijeoma Opara, who organized the event, said in a statement, “Yale doesn’t normally do anything like this … this is something unique to Bobbi. We wanted to show her bravery and how inspiring she is, and we just want to make sure she continues to feel honored and loved by the Yale community.”

This is Bobbi’s second time visiting Yale. She was first invited to tour the university after she was wrongfully reported to police.

In November 2022, a man named Gordon Lawshe called 911 on Wilson, calling her a "real small woman.” In the 911 call obtained by The Daily Beast, he said, "There's a little Black woman, walking, spraying stuff on the sidewalks and trees... I don't know what the hell she's doing, scares me though.” The child is shorter than five feet.

At the time, Bobbi’s mom, Monique Joseph, talked about the experience and the negative impact it had on her child at a Caldwell Borough Council meeting. According to The Daily Beast, she said, "My neighbor's words put my daughter in harm's way. His words and actions were unconscionable, and the impact of the aftermath of this incident will not be kept secret. My 9-year-old daughter was afraid to go outside her front door the next day. She was afraid that her neighbor that she knows has a reason, unknown to her, to call the police on her."

Lawshe is a Republican and former member of that council. His attorney, Greg Mascera, told The Daily Beast that Lawshe did not racially profile the little girl.

“All the cop did was drive by, but the mother’s assertion that [her daughter is now] afraid of cops is absurd,” he said and likened her comments to “crying wolf,” and making “real problems not be taken seriously.”