A High School Teachers Gets Schooled on Bees

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Written by Greg Saitz

Last summer, high school biology teacher Tom Pullizzi inherited an “observation” bee hive with a couple of dozen bees. It failed, in his words, miserably.

But earlier this year, his interest piqued by news about colony collapse disorder, Pullizzi attended Rutgers’ Bee-ginner’s Beekeeping class. After learning about everything from installing bees into a new hive to maintaining those hives, Pullizzi said, “I really feel confident I’ll be able to do this.”

The 55-year-old Levittown, Pa., resident said he plans to start four hives and may bring his bees to class for his students at Trenton Central High School to see.

“I’m going to start the hives in the spring and if I have any success I’d like to rear queens for sale,” he said.

In true teacher fashion, Pullizzi prepared himself by reading a lot about beekeeping but getting hands-on experience with real hives in class was crucial. “The class puts together all the pieces of beekeeping.”