“Without bees we’d all be dead,” said sophomore Jeel Shah, 15, last week, when talking about his work in the High Tech High School “Hive Tech Honey” program this past year. For the first time this year, the countywide public high school offered a honey-making project for students interested in the culinary arts, science, graphic arts, and business.
Students from different majors in the school saw the culmination of their efforts by selling “Hive Tech Honey” and related products at this year’s Green Festival in Secaucus on Saturday, May 7.
The program was able to bring together students with various disciplines throughout the year.
Antonio Quinlan, an apiarist with the Hudson River Apiary Society, brought the idea for the program to the school years ago. It was finally implemented this year. The HRAS is a non-profit apiary management and consulting company in the metropolitan area.
But first, the school needed an apiary for the bees to live in. Engineering and carpentry majors took care of that by creating a blueprint, designing, and creating the apiary.
Someone had to take care of the bees and extract the honey. Science students tended to them, fed them, and harvested the honey.
“We extracted essential oils from the honey to create the lip balm. We used a distillation method.” – Tanurshri Shah
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Then they had to get ready for selling. The students in the graphic design major worked on the logo, the design for the t-shirts and stickers, and the website, said Cindy Fernandez, 17, a senior graphic design major.
Students in the business major helped as well by setting the prices for honey products and t-shirts. They also set up social media platforms to prepare potential buyers for the big day.
Communication majors created a small pamphlet with the description of the project and what was sold. It was handed out during the Green Festival.
Culinary art students used the honey to make honey butter in many flavors like BBQ. They added bread and small utensils to the presentation table at the Green Festival so that guests could taste their new creation.
“After that, we were ready for our first day of selling. We take the proceeds and use it towards the apiary, seeds, and bees,” Tanurshri Shah said.
“This project allowed vocations to come together and get involved. All students worked together and it worked out in a good way,” Jenifer Fargo, one of the culinary teachers, said.
Assistant Principal Michael Ra added, “At the heart it was meant to be an environmental study project, but it grew into a business project that grew into helping bees. All students learn and use these skills to help bees and assist with their research.”
The bees are kept in the apiary at the school. The program will return next year. Quinlan said, “We are looking forward to expanding this program to other schools in Hudson County and the region,” he said.
Hive Tech Honey and the HRAS will make another appearance at the North Bergen Green Fair this Saturday June 4. More information about the HRAS can be found at www.hudsonriverapiarysociety.org.
Samantha Meyers can be reached at samantham@hudsonreporter.com .