School's Beekeeping Club teaching students valuable lessons about ecosystem

TAMPA - At Berkeley Preparatory School, the buzz is all about the beekeeping club. The club was started three years ago and teaches students about the fascinating world of honeybees.

Things have been buzzing at Berkeley Preparatory School's garden for students like Tej Allada.

"I joined in my 10th grade year because I heard it was a really cool club," said Allada. "It was really unique. And when I first came here, it was one of the first things that caught my attention during my orientation."

Tej is involved in the school's Beekeeping Club.

"The reason I joined Beekeeping Club was because I was originally scared of bees," said Allada. "But I liked honey a lot. And when I came over here, I had a few friends that were in this club, and they kind of introduced me to it."

Now he's less afraid and constantly learning new things.

"I didn't know that queen bees were. I knew they were kind of a thing, but I didn't realize how, how they were the only ones that created bees, you know, and the ones that make new bees," Allada explained.

The school received the bees from a student who needed to find them a home. Educators saw the bees as an opportunity to teach conservation and good stewardship to the students.

"This just seemed like a natural extension to the kinds of things that we do in the classroom when we talk about conservation," said Dr. Nicole Ackerson, science chairperson at Berkeley Preparatory School. "We talk about preservation here. We can actually live that educational experience as well."

"Bees do so much for the environment," said Jonathan Jordan, head beekeeper at Berkeley Preparatory School. "They're responsible for so many vegetables and fruits that we eat."

"One of my favorite days of the year is I get to go and talk to the kindergartners about pollination. I talked to them about the Berkeley bees, what the bees do, what they're responsible for, and kind of walk them through the pollination steps," Jordan said.

"Going out there and knowing that bees, they come and help the environment, they help pollinate all this, all this flora around us. It's really cool," Allada said.

The honey they collect is sold at the school's gift shop to provide free scholarships for students in need.

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