TAMPA, Fla. — There’s a sustainability class at the HCC Ybor City Campus that’s reaching new heights, literally, as students go up onto the roof of one of Ybor’s tallest buildings.
Once a month, students and the public are invited to come up onto the roof of the Student Services Building to learn about bees and play with them, too.
From the gloves to the jacket to the headgear, the first step to the beehive tour is safety.
“A lot of people are deeply afraid of bees, and I like to play off that fear a little bit. You have all your fun protective gear, we have all that stuff for you, and then you get to come on and face your fear a little bit,” said Paul Rabaut, HCC Sustainability Coordinator.
Then it’s onto the roof as Professor Rabaut introduces the participants to his collection of bees, a total of 25 hives that most people never knew were even up there.
“I didn’t know about this tour until today. I’ve already been here for two years now, and I was really excited the minute I heard that there were bees up on the roof; I had to come,” said student Iris Jones.
The tour isn’t just for students but for the general public, free of charge.
“Small groups come by; it’s a nice way for community members to engage with HCC faculty, staff, and students,” said Rabaut.
Rabaut said the group is always a buzz when he starts pulling the bees out from the hives and explaining what they do and how they benefit our environment.
“As teachers I think we live for that light bulb moment where that click thing happens, ‘oh my gosh,’ that expression that people give you,” said Rabaut.
“So they make some kind of bee bread inside of their little honeycombs, and that's pretty awesome because they ferment it, you know, it’s pretty cool,” said student Luis Batista.
Just like any great tour, it ends with a tasting.
“And that's what's so fun about teaching in this lab setting is that it’s incredibly tactile, so we are up there on the roof, we are smelling the smoke, tasting the honey, maybe we are experiencing a sting, not so often, but that is part of beekeeping,” said Rabaut.
Many of these students say they can’t wait to come back with their friends, not just for the bees but for the views.
“As one of the taller buildings in Ybor, you can see all the way to McKay Bay, you can see all the way to downtown Tampa,” said Rabaut. “People take their photo up there holding a frame of bees, and then they post that on Instagram, and then their friends see that, and their friends are like, ‘I have to do that,’ we welcome all those people,” said Rabaut.
For more information on the tour, go to hccfl.edu/sustainability.
