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The Buzz on Campus

by Ryleigh Gibbel

A couple years ago, a bee infested tree was located near the Blackburn library. Instead of spraying it, Arvin Pierce, an expert on hives, wanted to keep the bees and raise them. The Bee Program was soon buzzing.

Pierce is an inspector for the Illinois Department of Agriculture. He covers 11 counties around the Macoupin County area. He also manages the hives on Blackburn’s campus and has a notable YouTube channel with about 5 million views on a single video.

The first student to ever be a part of the Bee Program was Ben Nickels, who graduated only a couple of years ago.

The second student to be involved was Jacob Teichmann. Teichmann started as an intern for Blackburn through the science program. Now he is a senior and works strictly with the bees. He is a faculty assistant under professor of biology and ecology Dr. Jonathan Micancin. Working with the hives also counts as a credit hour. “In the spring, we work on catching swarms around the area and then we raise them in hives,” Teichman said. “In the fall we uncap and jar honey.”  

Right now, students have to be at least a junior to join, but in the future, this will hopefully change. “We’re hoping, when we get more students involved, to be able to do more experiments and tests on the pollen itself,” Teichmann said. The program is trying to work with the college to add more opportunities and even create a work program. “We would like to see more opportunities for students to get involved in these kind of activities within the work program,” Dr. Micancin said. Students would be working with the flowers, pollen, and bees.

According to Dr. Micancin, the honey will be sold in the bookstore the week of homecoming. “This is good honey, and I’m not just saying that because it’s our honey,” Dr. Micancin said. This year, there will be an added cone that is edible and also good for the digestion system. Right now, there’s no set price.

Nothing is added to the honey; it comes straight from the hives. Workers also know exactly what flower the bee used to pollinate. “We pride ourselves in kinda being able to say what’s able to make that honey,” Teichmann said.

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