This year, American Academy of Innovation’s enrollment jumped by about 1,000 — if you include the honeybees that are in the campus’ hives.

This past spring, after students in the school’s plant and soil class researched and talked to Utah State University faculty about the decline of pollinators, they applied for and received a Utah State University Ag in the Classroom $500 grant for the beehives and equipment. 

“Bees are on the decline and when we talk about sustainability and agriculture in general, our pollinators are endangered; that’s going to eventually affect the harvest of your gardens and anything dealing with agriculture,” AAI teacher Kathy Nuttall said. “I wanted to tie that in with their class and get students involved with it. They’re really excited about donning the suits and going to check on the hive.”

They also acquired milkweed to plant along with nectar flowers to help Friends of the Monarchs restore the butterflies’ breeding habitat.

“The students planted more than 14 different types of milkweed,” Nuttall said. “We’ve got a corner spot, so the students got rid of some of the old brush there and they’ve designed what they want it to look like with flowers from our greenhouse that will help both the monarchs and the bees.” 

Nuttall said they’ve learned about the monarchs by talking with Friends of Monarchs’ Rachel Taylor, who serves as a resource arm of the Southwest Monarch Study and is on the forefront of trying to save them. This fall, Friends of the Monarchs are tagging the butterflies during the migration season as part of a greater migration study.

In October, the students hope to harvest some honey from the beehives.

“They’re excited to see the harvest,” she said. “Our graduates are going to come back and help.”

Nuttall expects the first year’s harvest may be small.

“That will vary so if we get a bit of honey, I’ll be happy. If it’s a decent harvest, we can sell any extra to put funds back into the program. The biggest problem is a lot of people don’t leave enough honey for the bees to feed on during the wintertime,” she said.

Initially, the students gave the bees nectar sugar water until food became abundant. None of the students have been squeamish about approaching the bees, Nuttall said.

“Normally the bees don’t bother anyone; they usually are not in attack mode unless you bother them,” she said. “These students are learning that taking care of them is easy to do and it not only helps an individual area, but also the community. Often if gardens don’t do well, it’s probably because you do not have any pollinators to pollinate your garden and we’re seeing that happen. By learning about this, the students are understanding the benefits of honey and multiple things that we can use honey for other than just for eating purposes.”

Nuttall said honey is a byproduct of pollen and nectar and is used in the medical field as an anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and anti-bacterial and also as a pain reliever.

“The worker bees have a digestive enzyme they use to break down to form honey. So, they take that pollen and nectar that’s brought into the hive and they use a digestive enzyme to break it down into a form that we call honey,” she explained.

This year’s class may help with a community pollinator garden as Nuttall was applying for a grant to establish it within the Daybreak community. 

“This year’s students will design a community garden for all pollinators to continue on this journey,” she said. “Our curriculum talks about general sustainability and I go through all the different factors that allow sustainability. We tie in the hives, researching different plants and what works best for pollinators.”

Nuttall said her class talks about sustainability with backyard chickens — how to raise them and how to maintain them. Students learn first-hand as they’re in her classroom.

“We also talk about microgreens. It’s all based on self-sustainability and what new agriculture is going to look like,” she said. “We have a hydroponic system. Students harvested some of what they’ve been growing in the greenhouse with the hydroponic system. We had a nice green salad with vegetables they grew from the garden here.”

The direction of the program lies with the students, Nuttall said.

“We’ll study where the students want to take it. If I find something that interests them, and they want to go for it, and it’s within the guidelines, then let’s do it. The key is to find their interest and guide them that way,” she said, adding the idea of the school’s garden came from students.

The beehives were an idea from two years ago, but some students were still in the class last year and initiated the effort.

“We may grow the number of bees if we can split the hives,” she said. “The best part is watching the kids enjoy what they’re learning and going for it.”λ