ABUZZ: THE HONEYBEES OF HOYA HIVES

Who are 50,000 of Georgetown’s hardest workers?

To find out, Georgetown staff member Tierney Monahan, herself an amateur beekeeper, paid a visit to the hives.

In July, I put on my bee suit and sought out these very active female worker bees (and a few male drone bees) along with their caretakers, mentor Professor William Hahn and students Ally Smith (NHS’21) and Billy Maguire (C’22).

As we walked up to the Observatory grounds to inspect the hive on a sweltering afternoon, I asked Billy and Ally how they became involved in caring for the bees. Billy came to the group by way of the campus Environment Club. Ally accepted the invitation of her friend Elizabeth Nguyen (F’21), who leads the student group, also known as Hoya Hives, to come to a bee class and learn more about these fascinating creatures. It turns out Ally, Lizzy and I all took the same beginner beekeeping course, only a year apart, from the DC Beekeepers Alliance and the University of the District of Columbia Extension Program.

The students care for the bees by feeding them—especially when they are first installed and throughout the fall and winter— treating for pest management and checking the pattern of the comb to make sure the hive is healthy and the queen is laying well.

This past spring, Georgetown’s Laudato Si’ Fund approved a grant to the Bee Campus committee. The Laudato Si’ Fund takes its name from Pope Francis’ encyclical on environmental justice and supports sustainability projects and programs that respond to Francis’ call to “care for our common home” by creating a healthier and more biologically diverse local ecosystem. One of 11 grant winners across campus for the 2019–20 academic year, the Bee Campus committee will focus on establishing a habitat plan to improve the climate for pollinators, hosting awareness events— particularly during Pollinator Week in late June—sponsoring student service-learning projects, posting signage to educate the campus and broader community and partnering with faculty members to offer pollinator-focused courses.

Professor Hahn later mentioned that we assume a lot out of nature, its products and its processes. Without pollinators, we would not be able to grow the diversity and quantity of plants in our region. Pollinator health is also an important measure of overall environmental quality. Hoya Hives members will continue to highlight the importance of how our human actions greatly impact our ecosystem.

The interconnection among people, pollinators and the broader environment is extremely valuable and I, for one, am thankful for these busy bees.

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