This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 5, 2011 - They have bees at Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School, and we're not talking about the spelling and geography contests you'll find at most elementary or middle schools.
We're talking REAL bees.
Buzzing bees.
Busy little honey-makers that enjoy life in the colonies (of which the school has two), where they produce their own brand of naturally sweet stuff: Blue Devil honey.
The unique enterprise is run by the 15 or so seventh- and eighth-graders who belong to the school's Bee and Snake Club, coordinated by teachers Kay Burbank and Bill Henske. (Yes, the snakes are also REAL snakes -- ball pythons, in fact -- but we'll save that story for another day.)
The club bought the bees last spring, gave them the school's official nickname -- Blue Devils -- and installed them in hives built under the guidance of Jim Jordan, a local member of the Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association, who is serving as mentor to the program.
Club members tended to the bees during the summer and fall and collected about two gallons of honey, which they bottled into two-ounce jars and have been sharing with the school community.
Eighth-grader Sean Goodenough says donning the protective beekeeper gear while collecting the honey was one of the best parts of the experience.
"I liked getting the honey because those white suits are pretty cool,'' he said.
A Sweet Lesson in Sustainability
The Blue Devils are now asleep for the winter in their hives, located off the school grounds on nearby district property -- behind a 6-foot fence for the protection of the bees, the neighbors and the curious. But the Bee and Snake Club members are still busy as you-know-whats, and the Beacon dropped in on a recent session where members were blending lip balm, flavored with a touch of Blue Devil honey.
This was a hands-on activity, with Burbank and Henske offering guidance, while the kids calculated the amount of ingredients for the brew, using a formula Burbank found on the internet. They carefully measured beeswax, cocoa butter, lanolin and various oils into beakers. And after melting the concoction in the science classroom's microwave, eighth-grader Lisbeth Esquivel carefully poured it into blue plastic tubes that would later carry the Blue Devil private label.
Henske said the beekeeping club is grounded in teaching the students -- in a fun and engaging way -- about sustainability and the long-term survival of ecosystems and the built environment.
"We want students to have experience with being producers in their environment and not just consumers of goods and ideas,'' he said.
The bees mesh with the school district's emphasis on teaching sustainability -- a "Seed to Table" philosophy that has also inspired an innovative program at the Maplewood Richmond Heights Early Childhood Center, which keeps a flock of urban chickens.
And, beekeeping gets kids outdoors, Henske said.
"A lot of kids don't have hobbies. Their parents don't have hobbies. We have TV, and we have cable and we have the internet and video game systems -- and those are really the hobbies. Other than organized sports there is very little outdoor recreation. So this is another way to connect some of the things together,'' he said.
'Kind of an Adventure'
Burbank said the students have been involved in every stage of the beekeeping, which has cost about $400, including construction costs for the hives and the purchase of the bees. The cost for a three-pound box is about $40, which includes about 10,000 bees.
It's been a learning experience for teachers and students alike, Burbank said. They have studied bee biology and behavior and will share their data with area beekeepers working to prevent the decline in the honeybee population. In recent years, honeybees in the U.S. have fallen victim to a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder, in which bees disappear from their hives.
Eighth-grader Janai Robinson says tending bees has been "kind of an adventure,'' though she admits that the first time she donned the beekeeper garb for a close encounter she was a little scared. But she said she's learned a lot, including the important role bees serve as processers in the food chain.
"I learned they're not as bad as people make them out to be, and without them the world wouldn't be so much,'' Janai said.
Burbank knows of no other schools in the beekeeping business and said that other district teachers have shown an interest in the program.
And, yes, we did ask Burbank the penetrating question, which you've probably been wondering about since you began reading a story about 15 middle school kids and thousands of honeybees.
"Not a single child got stung," she said.