In the News

The Carolina Beekeeping Club allows students to learn about sustainability and protecting honeybees.

Dressed in a full bee suit, Carolina’s Chancellor Lee Roberts was given a tour by Carolina Beekeeping Club President Nathan Halsey and Vice President Ben Diasio.

On the latest edition of our CarolinaCast podcast, Emmy Berger and Maddie Policastro break down the buzz around UNC’s Beekeeping Club and its “Honey for Hunger Initiative.” The club processed and bottled more than 200 pounds of honey, and every dollar from sales goes straight to the Carolina Cupboard campus food pantry.

As a child, Christian Dale used to run from bees. “I remember playing on a soccer field and taking off as soon as a bumblebee came near,” he said. “I was terrified.” Now, the UNC Chapel Hill senior spends time suited up at beehives, calmly handling frames filled with buzzing insects. Learning how bees behave, he said, changed everything. “Once I understood how gentle they really are, it helped me connect with nature in a way I never would have before.”

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) — The Carolina Beekeeping Club is connecting with the community to learn how to protect our pollinators and educate everyone on the importance of bees. For Ben Diasio, it is not the UNC-Chapel Hill students who stay the busiest on campus. It is the bees. “Bees remind me of the wonder that it is to be alive,” said Ben Diasio.

The Carolina Beekeeping Club is buzzing on UNC's campus amidst the prevailing necessity of bees. From harvesting jars of fresh honey to suiting up for weekly hive tours, this student-built community thrives on the principles of sustainability, curiosity and of course, bees.

"Anyone who thinks they're too small to make a difference has never met the honey bee." 

Nathan Halsey, co-president of the Carolina Beekeeping Club lives by this quote. As a high school student during the pandemic, he picked up beekeeping. When he arrived to Carolina, he knew he wanted to continue his business, Halsey's Hives.

Through the Carolina Beekeeping Club, Tar Heels are learning to care for hives and exploring the impact bees have on our environment and food systems.

Carolina's campus is known for its beauty — particularly in the spring and summer when the trees and flowers bloom. While the University is home to teams of staff that maintain our historic campus, they also get a small assist from one of the University's most valuable natural resources: bees.

“I think the biggest thing I've learned is that bees are honestly just beautiful, gentle creatures and that we should all love and respect them,” Tucker said. “That's the best thing I've learned from the club, and I think that's our message that we get out to a lot of people too.”

A member of the newly formed club, Brunton said he already had some ideas in the works for the future of beekeeping club, one of them being selling honey in the pit.

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“I think it would be really cool to establish something that could carry on after the group of us who created it graduate,” he said.