Ms. Rebecca Pizzino is a part-time biology teacher and part-time beekeeper. Her role in GA extends further than what most students think: the bees which live outside of Galloway’s House lounge don’t take care of themselves, Ms. Pizzino ensures the hives are functioning properly in all rain, sun, snow and if cats and dogs are falling from the sky.
“I think it is one of GA’s best-kept secrets,” Ms. Pizzino said.
Her beekeeping career dates back seven years, when GA moved to its new building in the fall of 2011. Here, she and a friend from the Middle School department joined together and attended a beekeeping class where they decided bees should make an appearance both at their homes and at GA.
Apart from their many environmental benefits in the ecosystem and as pollinators, bees facilitate educational opportunities directed to the Lower, Middle and Upper Schools.
The structure of beehives and the anatomy of bee colonies are part of what makes beekeeping so interesting. Understanding them helps learners stay educated of their involvement in helping current climate issues.
Inside the hives, live three separate categories of bees, differentiated by their job in the colony: there’s the queen bee, worker bees and the drones.
The queen bee’s essential role is to lay the eggs and feed her larvae. The queen bee will lay her eggs in March as the weather gets warmer. She lays more eggs as the season gets warmer until the fall when she slows down.
The workers live for a shorter period of time than the queen bee, yet their functions within the colony are essential to the overall workings of the hive. Along with taking care of the larvae with the queen, they process nectar, feed the queen, guard the hive, forage for pollen and build the honeycombs.
With each position of the bees within the hives, another crucial role belongs to the beekeeper. From her own experience, Ms. Pizzino has to check on the bees and make sure they are functioning as they should.
“As someone that takes care of the bees, I’m looking in the hive. I’m looking to see, can I see the queen? Do I see the worker? Do I see that they have food? Do I see that they have babies? Do I see any evidence of parasites? Do they have this thing called varroa mites? Do I see hive beetles? Do I see any chalk brood?” Ms. Pizzino said. “I look for all those diseases and problems in the fall, now I have consolidated the bees to fewer boxes and made sure that they have at least 40 pounds of honey for the winter.”
As winter rolls around, her job may go unseen. However, with the weather getting colder, her role in mothering for the beehives feels as fundamental as ever. Her commitment to the hives is shown through the safety precautions she cycles through to avoid disruption to the bees.
“I wear a veil, I wear gloves, I wear my suit, and usually sneakers,” Ms. Pizzino said. “I look kind of like a Ghostbuster when I wear my bee suit.”
To prepare the beehive, she must prepare its boxes. Doing so she wraps the hive with a black cover that will absorb solar energy for warmth during the cold season. She then will put something called a mouse guard on its entrance, so the bees can get in and out, but mice can’t get in there.
In regards to engagement to the GA community, Ms. Pizzino works to make an effort to teach more people about bees by emphasizing their roles on our planet and their importance to learning about biology in and outside of her classroom.