![At the bottom of the third inning, the Lions are still scoreless. Rowe stands at home plate, preparing to bat, while Vandenbrink stands off to the side as the next batter up. Despite having the bases loaded, the team was unable to score any runs. “It’s just the beginning of the season. We’re just going to be playing out best by June, [and] that’s where champions are,” Rowe said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3077-1200x900.jpg)
Saving the Bees
CREST Farms offers Bee Keeping Class to High School Students
Checking the three bee boxes at Crest Farms, senior Andrea Swenson and juniors Sarah Martin and Tahnna Shaaban wait to inspect the hive. Crest Farms in Wilsonville offers a Beekeeping class for students to learn about bees and allowing them to work directly with nature.
Lifting the roof off of the hive, the Crest Beekeeping class lets the bees calm down before pulling out one of the sleeves to find the Queen.
In search for the Queen bee, Swensen holds the hive cap as teacher Geoff Bingham and a Crest instructor inform the class on what the function of the Queen is in the hive.
After finding the Queen, Swensen and Shaaban place the sleeve of bees back into the hive. The class learned that if the Queen dies, the rest of the colony will create a cocoon-like structure to put her in, after finding one of those structures in an old hive.
Opening an empty hive, the beekeeping class scrapes off some of last years honey and prepares the hive for a new colony of bees.
Swenson and Martin finish the inspection of the first hive, putting the sleeve back into the hive for their next class. “Honey bees have been disappearing, so this class is really important to raise awareness and to save the bees,” Martin said.
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![At the bottom of the third inning, the Lions are still scoreless. Rowe stands at home plate, preparing to bat, while Vandenbrink stands off to the side as the next batter up. Despite having the bases loaded, the team was unable to score any runs. “It’s just the beginning of the season. We’re just going to be playing out best by June, [and] that’s where champions are,” Rowe said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3077-600x450.jpg)