Recognizing the important role that honeybees play in the environment, 10 students at Magnificat High School in Rocky River spent the summer getting a beehive up and running. The girls are members of the Bee Committee, which is part of the Seeds of Service Club. They said the new bee project fits in well with the philosophy of the sisters who founded Magnificat in 1955.
“The Sisters of the Humility of Mary, they are all about caring for our common home and all about what Pope Francis said in Laudato Si,” said Maggie Erickson, co-leader of the Bee Committee.
“They are all about making sure that our earth is protected for future generations and making sure that we're caring for the creation that God gave us.”
Honeybees are important pollinators for flowers and are directly related to about one-third of all food production.
“The fact that we're helping to save the bees and helping to grow this population of pollinators will help our society in the long run because we'll have more food,” she added. “It will also help out national parks and other places that may have wildlife that is suffering because of the lack of pollinators due to humans expanding into the natural habitats for pollinators.”
The project was launched with help from the nonprofit Youth Bee Works. The students spent eight weeks learning about bees and how to care for them. The Magnificat hive began with 12,000 bees and now houses about 60,000-75,000. The queen can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day as long as she and the hive are healthy.
The students completed their first honey extraction in August and said they are passionate about passing on what they have learned. They hope others can come to appreciate the important role bees play in creating beauty and nourishing the world.