Hopkins Honeybeess, a student group that started keeping beehives last year, is now becoming an official student group on campus. Junior Caitlin Rosner, who is the president of Hopkins Honeybees, began beekeeping in high school and wanted to bring that experience to Hopkins students.
"I started beekeeping when I was in high school as an independent study," she said. "It was really fun, and I wanted people to see how fun it was."
The group was affiliated with the Center for Social Concern (CSC) last year and was comprised of about eight undergraduate and graduate students. They built two bee hives last year. They will become an official group through the Office of Student Activities once they submit a budget proposal for funding.
This year, Rosner, along with junior Hannah Decatur, Secretary of Hopkins Honeybees, seek to expand the group. They had their first meeting of the year on Sunday, Feb. 26, which about 10 people attended.
The group's main project is the beekeeping itself. The group plans to increase the number of hives they have off of San Martin Drive and possibly put hives in a community garden near the medical campus.
They currently have veils for protection and will get more materials once they receive funding. Their first activity will entail building the beehives themselves.
"It's kind of like barn raising," Rosner said. "It's really fulfilling seeing something you built turned into beehives."
The beehives are made out of wooden boxes, which Rosner describes as picture frames.
"Instead of pictures, there's a sheet of bees wax," she said. "The bees live in the frames, and we pull them out every season to see how they're doing."
In order to participate in the group, students must sign a waiver acknowledging that they know they can potentially get stung. Rosner, however, has only been stung once and says that beekeeping is not dangerous. Once the group obtains the bees for this year, their faculty advisor, Hopkins School of Medicine Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics Jef Boeke will host a training session where everyone will learn how to inspect the beehives and how to retrieve the honey. Rosner thinks that they may even have to move the beehives this year, which would involve transporting entire hives full of bees at night.
Hopkins Honeybees is also trying to collaborate with researchers at the medical campus and work on a project focusing on immunology and vaccinations. For example, they might focus on antibodies that are built up between beekeepers versus antibodies from people who have not had contact with bees.
This foray into science is what intrigues sophomore Jessica O'Neil about beekeeping. "My neighbor keeps bees so I was interested. I've also been developing an interest in immunology and vaccination," she said. " [Plus] honey is one of my favorite foods."
The group may even profit off of their endeavors this year. The Baltimore Museum of Art is considering having local artists design bottles for the honey form the group's beehives.
"We would be able to bottle honey at the art museum, and we'd get profits from it," Rosner said.
Because they may make money, Hopkins Honeybees also wants to set up a limited liability company (LLC) because it would allow one of them to essentially become a CEO of their honey business.
"I think it would be a fun project," Rosner said.
The group also plans on bringing some speakers in this semester and, since the group is affiliated with the CSC, they will participate in community outreach.
Rosner and Decatur are excited for this semester, especially because beekeeping is so important to them.
"It's important because bees are disappearing. They pollinate food, plants and flowers," Rosner said. "And it's fun."
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