Campus Apiary Brings Environmental Science to Life
“This allows students to experience science in real life. They learn about the environmental impacts of their work and the importance of stewarding our planet. If students can directly affect change in their school, they graduate knowing they can make an impact in their communities and the world around them.”
Sarah Holmes, STA Environmental Science instructor and faculty advisor
October 28, 2022
Earlier this month, St. Teresa’s Academy hosted an Open House for prospective students and their parents.
“You have beehives on the roof?” asked an incredulous student visitor after learning of STA’s rooftop apiary (bee farm). “That’s so awesome,” she said, her eyes looking skyward.
STA is the only high school in the area with an apiary that allows students to actively harvest and sell honey. Which is fitting, since it was a student-generated idea. This fall, students began caring for the hives located atop STA’s Donnelly Hall, which have grown from 20,000 bees in the spring to more than 120,000 at present. Inside, students don full-length bee suits, being sure to check each other for any gaps where bees might enter. Along with their AP Environmental Science instructor and faculty advisor Sarah Holmes, they climb the spiral metal staircase to the roof and begin the process of harvesting honey. As the bees fly busily around the two hives, the students assist each other with removing rectangular frames from the hives, now heavy with wax and honey. After they return to the classroom, they will extract and bottle the honey, preparing to sell or gift it to others.
Holmes describes this type of learning as transformative. “This allows students to experience science in real life. They learn about the environmental impacts of their work and the importance of stewarding our planet. If students can directly affect change in their school, they graduate knowing they can make an impact in their communities and the world around them,” she says.
It started last January when a group of students attended Holmes’s three-day Interim Week course. Interim Week at STA is a period between semesters that allows students to learn through experiences beyond the classroom. Faculty, alumnae, parents and even students lead Interim Week courses, which are not directly related to regular courses, allowing students to explore a variety of interests. It’s part of the Academy’s larger experiential learning program, led by Kelly Finn, Director of Experiential Learning at STA.
On the first day of the interim course, Holmes, who has beehives at her home, brought in dead bees from the hives so students could get an up-close view of the insects. One of the bees, however, wasn’t dead. “It was cold-stunned,” Holmes said. “It started crawling around. Initially the girls were apprehensive, but when they realized the bee didn’t perceive them as a threat and wasn’t aggressive, everything changed.”
The following day, students visited a local apiary operated by MO Hives KC, a nonprofit organization co-founded by STA alumna Marion (Spence, ’87) Pierson, M.D., to explore beekeeping and its relationship to environmental sustainability and the urban food supply. In addition to observing the hives, the students learned how apiaries impact the community, which includes pollinating urban food gardens and providing other economic opportunities. “When we got back to campus, the students were inspired by what they’d seen and heard, and they wanted to apply it,” says Holmes. And the idea for a campus-based apiary took flight.
On the final day of the course, the students created a proposal to present to school administration. They collectively identified potential campus locations, along with advantages and disadvantages of each. They then took on tasks aligning with their individual areas of interest. One student produced a rendering of an apiary on the rooftop of Donnelly Hall. Others worked on budget and funding sources, marketing materials, curricular connections, potential campus and community partners, and safety and accessibility considerations.
After review, STA administration wholeheartedly supported the students’ proposal. “The girls’ vision is that this will serve as a model for other schools so the benefits of bees can be enjoyed by the greater community,” says STA President Dr. Siabhan May-Washington. “This is truly a game changer.”
The STA Bug Club, one of more than 30 campus-based clubs, also is excited about the apiary. Last spring, members of this student club planted a pollinator garden on campus to provide the bees a close food source and give students a hands-on educational experience with native plants and pollinators. The apiary and pollinator garden, made possible by funding from STA’s Women’s Circle of Giving, also will provide opportunities for student service hours.
Holmes will present at the Missouri Environmental Education Association’s annual conference at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center in Kansas City on November 5. The conference theme is, “Health for all: Connecting environmental health and education.” She will present, “Bringing an Apiary to Your School” in conjunction with Dr. Pierson and two current students. Holmes is a nominee for the 2022 National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools (NCSSS) Innovative STEM Teacher Award, recognizing teacher inventiveness in the classroom. The award winner will be announced at the NCSSS conference in Atlanta in early November.
Below: Hear Sarah Holmes’s perspectives on the apiary and its impact on students. Video produced and edited by Claire B., STA sophomore.