AROUND CAMPUS and faculty are using data collected from more,” Vacovsky says. bee photos posted to the image-sharing Back at Tech, she started volunteerwebsite Flickr to search for patterns. And ing with the Urban Honey Bee Project this semester, they’re working to build a to help maintain the hives and worked mobile app that will make it fun for people with Leavey as a student assistant. Vato upload their images. covsky says she enjoyed handing out “We’re trying to create more geo-tagged pamphlets and talking to people about photos with this app so it’s easier to map bees while selling honey at the camout where bees are currently,” Singh says. pus farmer’s market. “Its gotten me more interested in how “That was my favorite part—teachyou analyze data and collect it—and how ing people about honey bees and to engage people to help with important making them more aware of their causes like this.” dire situation,” Vacovsky says, pointA third-year computer science major ing out that if all honey bees were to at Tech, Singh is not exactly the type of die off, our food supply would be at student you would expect to be doing regreat risk and flowering plants would search on bees. be threatened as well. “For some “You’d think it’s just a biology thing,” people, it’s still kind of a shock that Jennifer Leavey, Chem 95, leads Tech’s Urban Honey Singh says. “But it’s relevant to my studpollinator populations are declining,” Bee Project. ies because it’s about more than bees; it’s she says. about collecting and analyzing and storing information.” Vacovsky continued her passion for bees after graduation. The hives are a great resource for research, but some This summer, she served as the assistant program coordipeople—both on and off campus—gravitate toward them benator for Bee-INSPIRED, a 10-week research and service cause of their general interests in bees and sustainability. program at Tech. Recently, she earned her beekeeper’s certification and started her own beekeeping company, called Southeast Beescapes. “I hope it’s a big part of my life moving forward,” Vacovsky says. The Urban Honey Bee Project offers monthly outreach programs, including an intro to beekeeping class and hive inspections. Vacovsky says inspections are important to catch any issues and ensure that the hives are healthy. During inspections, you’re looking for signs of the queen, eggs and larvae, food stores like pollen and honey, and harvest honey if there is extra. “Especially if there are signs of disease or virus, you want to catch that early,” Vacovsky says. “The worst threat, the most direct threat is called the varroa mite. It’s basically a tick for bees. It’s a tiny mite that stays on the back of While there isn’t a formal student club, there are lots of opthe bee’s neck and can transfer diseases.” portunities for students to volunteer, Leavey says. “We have a The success of the Urban Honey Bee Project, along with pretty established program and they can jump in and get inthe Institute’s overall sustainability push, led to Tech being volved in a variety of ways.” named the nation’s second Bee Campus USA affiliate last Brooke Vacovsky, CS 15, was first intrigued by honey bees year. Leavey says she couldn’t imagine four years ago how while studying abroad in Copenhagen. She was working with successful the Urban Honey Bee Project would be with stua community garden when she began looking into introducing dents, staff and alumni. “It’s been really fun,” Leavey says. “For a beehive as a way to improve crop yields. many who have participated, their curiosity about bees has “Everything I learned about them interested me more and turned into a passionate love for them.”
“That was my favorite part—teaching people about honey bees and making them more aware of their dire situation,” Vacovsky says.
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THE YEAR THAT DRAMATECH WAS FOUNDED, making it the oldest continuously running theater in the state of Georgia
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TECH’S RANKING as a U.S. research university, according to Best College Reviews Josh Meister