LAKELAND, Fla. — The live bee colony inside Lakeland’s Combee Academy of Design and Engineering teaches grade-schoolers to protect the environment.
The hive is part of the Bee Cause Project, a nonprofit and national movement, and is one of two in the state.
Hayden and Ian are grade-schoolers at Combee Academy of Design and Engineering in Lakeland.
They are worried about honey bees.
“Save the bees or everything dies!” says Hayden.
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“Without bees, it’s the Earth’s death!” says Ian.
Their passion for bees stems from the nonprofit, which has provided hives for 300 schools in 50 states. They say their mission is to provide a chance for children to "understand, engage, and learn from honey bees" while also developing STEM skills.
It took Combee Academy almost two years to get approval and installation of the colony, which allows students an up-close view of thousands of bees at work.
The school’s project leader, Tracy Miller, says the wait was worth it.
“We don’t want our kids to be scared of bees,” Miller says. “We want them to be educated about how important they are.”
