July 13, 2020 鈥� While most of the campus operates in cyberspace, the roughly 24 colonies at (海角社区CI)鈥檚 bee yard are thriving, thanks in part to two 2019 graduates who suit up and show up to care for the bees.
海角社区CI鈥檚 pollinator-friendly campus, bee education, outreach and student involvement along with a number of other factors have earned 海角社区CI a Bee Campus USA designation for a second year in a row. 海角社区CI is one of 103 Bee Campus USAs across the nation.
鈥淏ee Campus USA is an exciting designation because we were the first four-year university in California to earn that rating, and now we鈥檝e been renewed,鈥� said Sustainability and Energy Manager Roxane Beigel-Coryell.
Designations for Bee Campus USA and Bee City USA come from the Xerces Society, which is an organization that works to conserve native pollinators including bees, butterflies, and moths. The society鈥檚 hundreds of volunteers reward cities and campuses that take steps such as enhancing habitats for pollinators and reducing the use of pesticide reduction, among other steps.
鈥淲e try to limit the amount of pesticides we use,鈥� said Beigel-Coryell. 鈥淲e do what we can before using chemical input such as mulching and doing hand-weeding.鈥�
Earning 鈥淏ee Campus鈥� designation for the first time for the year 2018 required cooperation among faculty, administration, staff and students to provide education, public outreach, student involvement and pollinator-friendly practices on campus, which 海角社区CI has sustained now for two years and counting.
The buzz started when students in Chemistry Lecturer Safa Khan, Ph.D.鈥檚 sustainability classes proposed a number of pollinator projects, including a pollinator garden on the second floor courtyard of Sierra Hall, and an educational Earth Day campaign.
The movement gained momentum with Associate Professor of Biology and bee expert Ruben Alarcon鈥檚 apiculture and bee biology classes, which offered hands-on training with the bee farm Alarcon procured for the campus.
鈥淟ab students can take a class to learn bee-keeping and it鈥檚 still popular,鈥� Alarcon said. 鈥淭he students who took my class have become beekeepers on their own and join forces to maintain the colonies on campus.鈥�
Each Saturday, Alarcon meets with 2019 Biology graduates Kevin Bock, 32, of Thousand Oaks and Shirley Williams, 29, of Goleta, who don their white beekeeper suits and go about the business of managing the bees, which Bock describes as 鈥渁 labor of love.鈥�
鈥淭his is pure volunteer work,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淲e both work Monday through Friday and Saturday is our designated beekeeping day, which often spills over into Sunday. It鈥檚 not necessary that we do this, but we love the campus, we care about the program and we care about Professor Alarcon.鈥�
Bock said he was drawn to beekeeping 鈥渋n the nerdiest way possible,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 was playing Dungeons and Dragons and we wanted to get more into it, so I made my own honey mead wine,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hen I realized honey is really expensive. I saw the beekeeping class was available so I took it and fell in love with it.鈥�
Williams鈥� interest in bees dates further back to when she was a child and collected roly-poly bugs. As she grew up and attended 海角社区CI, she began to marvel at the ingenuity of the bee colonies.
鈥淭hey thermos-regulate their colonies,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen it鈥檚 too hot, they fan their wings and ventilate it. And the structure of their cones are hexagons because that鈥檚 the most efficient. They figured that out over thousands of years.鈥�
After spending time among the hives, sharing their fascination with bees, Bock and Williams鈥� friendship bloomed into a romance, which is still going strong鈥攑ollinator puns and all.
鈥淜evin will be checking out some honey and say 鈥榃ill you look at this honey!鈥� and I鈥檒l say 鈥榊es, Dear,鈥欌�� Williams said.
Bock and Williams were members of the new Bee Club, which is dedicated to learning about and spreading information about pollinators and conservation through public outreach and conservation.
Former Bee Club secretary Evelyn Garcia, who plans to graduate in 2021 with a degree in Biology and Anthropology, joined the club to conquer a fear and wound up finding a cause she loved.
鈥淚 was afraid of insects and heard they were hosting a Bee Club. I thought it would be a good way to get over my fear of insects,鈥� said Garcia, who learned to love bees. 鈥淭hey are the reason we have food. They are one of the reasons we are still alive. They are like the backbone of the nature world. Bees made sure we stayed alive so I think it鈥檚 our turn to help them.鈥�
To learn more about Bee Campus USA and the Xerces Society visit: .