By SARAH THOMACK
St. Joseph Post
A club at Northwest Missouri State University is working to create more buzz about the importance of a tiny insect.
The Bee Club at Northwest was started this past school year by a student.
Northwest student Abigail Rosonke is the Bee Club President and said she became interested in bees through talking to a classmate who is a beekeeper. The two decided to look into starting a bee club at Northwest and eventually talked with Northwest Arboretum Director Patrick Ward about being an adviser for the club. Ward said it was exciting to help with a club started by an idea from students.
“I’m more of the tree man but I’ve kept bees for years… and there is a lot of interest right now in bees, in fact, we’re starting some pollinator plots on campus, for not only bees but other insects and other types of natives bees,” Ward said. “So when they came to me (about the club), I thought, ‘That’s pretty cool.’”
Rosonke said there were some hurdles and a process through the Student Senate, but eventually the club was approved and started due to her persistence.
“It was something I was so passionate about and even though I’d never done it before, I thought it was a great opportunity, not just for me, but there were a bunch of other people on campus who were just so interested,” Rosonke said.
Rosonke said one of the reasons she has become passionate about bees and educating others about them is because of their importance to our food, and not just honey.
“Fruits, flowers, you name it and people don’t realize, they’re like, oh ‘Save the bees,’ it seems like such a distant problem but it’s happening all around the world, we’re seeing a major drop off of bees,” Rosonke said.
Ward said they have four hives set up by the campus orchard and took a trip to Illinois to pick up their bees.
“When I bring back a package of bees, that is three pounds of bees, about 6,000 bees with a queen in a little bitty cage, because the queen and the bees are not from the same hive necessarily so it’s an introduction process, it takes a few days,” Ward said. “These bees are not attacking because they’re not protecting a hive. Bees protect things, they don’t come out looking for trouble so they’re really docile normally.”
For more information on the Bee Club, contact Patrick Ward at the Missouri Arboretum on the Northwest campus.