Middle and Senior School Partner in Support of the One Million Beehives Initiative
By: Emily P. '23 and Matteo K. '23
As part of the Active Citizenship unit in our Grade 11 physical education class, students spend a large part of the school year working on a project that they are passionate about. Two Grade 11 students, Emily P. '23 and Matteo K. '23, share below how they plan to support the One Million Beehives initiative in partnership with our Grade 9 Design students and how you can help!
What’s better than celebrating our school heritage? Celebrating while supporting a good cause!
On Saturday June 4, at STS’s 50th Family Fun Day, we will be setting up a booth that will be selling products made and designed by the Grade 9 Design class. We have pledged to raise $250 CAD for the One Million Beehives Round Square initiative, and through the sales of the Grade 9 student's products, we will be donating profits directly to Round Square. Please note: we can only accept cash at our booth.
One Million Beehives was started by Lesego Serolong (a former Round Square student) and aims to build one million beehives across South Africa and neighboring countries. After graduating, Lesego created Bee Loved which connects rural and isolated communities to opportunities to produce sustainable honey. One Million Beehives was born out of this project and it addresses issues related to dying honey bee populations, while also providing economic support and opportunity in those rural communities.
Bee Loved, paired with the new One Million Beehives, has helped both in rural communities and in regrowing dying bee populations. One Million Beehives has impacted the lives of over 450 smallholder farms in South Africa, which has created opportunities to develop economic empowerment and inclusion for those isolated communities. Specifically, helping lift farms out of poverty with an emphasis on women and youth. The initiative also supports bee populations through the production of hives which can house colonies of over 60,000 and act as a home base where the bees can relay information to one another.
"WHAT DREW US IN WAS THE GLOBAL APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT. SINCE WE HAVE HONEYBEE FARMS SO CLOSE TO OUR CAMPUS, LEARNING THAT THEY COULD ALSO BE FOUND IN SOUTH AFRICA, AND THAT THEY FACED SIMILAR ISSUES WAS VERY INTERESTING. IN OTHER PRELIMINARY RESEARCH, LEARNING ABOUT THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS AND SUPPORT HONEY FARMING COULD PROVIDE FOR STRENGTHENING QUALITY OF LIFE WAS SOMETHING THAT DREW US IN. KNOWING THAT THE PREMISES OF THIS PROJECT COULD BE SEEN ONLY A FEW KILOMETERS AWAY, AND THE INITIATIVE SUPPORTING NOT ONLY THE ENVIRONMENT BUT ALSO PEOPLE’S WELLBEING WAS KEY IN OUR CHOICE TO TAKE ON THIS PROJECT."
— EMILY P. '23
In an effort to be sustainable in our use of materials, sample products will be available to handle but products must be ordered at the event, to ensure the Grade 9 students only produce what is necessary. Products you can expect to see include high quality woodcraft products, such as fashion accessories, home and office decor, keychains, toys, and a variety of custom “STS Birthday Bash” souvenirs. We will only be accepting cash, due to the fees that incur when we use online payment methods—we want to make sure that every dime put towards our goal is going towards the cause.
We hope to see you there!
