Simpson swarm, Simpson’s bee club, held its first meeting on Nov. 12 to talk about its plans for building a bee garden, what the club wanted to do with their own beehives for the year, as well as other ideas.

“I went to this beekeeping class and ever since then I’ve been passionate about bees,” said Victoria Jordan, one of the co-presidents of Simpson swarm.

Simpson swarm was founded last year as a way to bring awareness and grow students’ knowledge about bees. The club accepts people with all levels of knowledge about bees.

“Beekeeping has run in my family since the ‘70s,” said Silvia Murillo, co-president of Simpson swarm.

The club owns two beehives that they check every few weeks.

“The house that they are currently at has a lot of gardening,” Murillo said. “It helps the bees to make more honey and pollen.”

Members wear protective bee suits in order to keep from being stung and are instructed on beekeeping before helping with the bees.

The bees are pretty self-sufficient during the warmer times of the year.

“It’s mostly in the winter when they need a little more help,” Jordan said.

Simpson swarm discussed at the meeting sending the bees to Texas in order for the bees to have a higher chance of survival.

A big project the club wants to work on this year is painting the boxes the bees are kept in.

“We already got the boxes,” Murillo said. “It was planned last year, but it wasn’t really initiated.”

The club also wants to bring awareness to students about the declining bee population.

“I think it’s sad to see that they’re declining since they have such an important role,” Jordan said. “They pollinate a lot of our food and without them, we wouldn’t have half the food we eat every day.”

Handing out flyers to the students and starting a bee garden were suggested ways to help with this problem.

The Simpson swarms next meeting will be on Nov. 19 in Carse. If you have questions or are interested in the club, email Murillo and Jordan at [email protected] and [email protected].