FFFF: Mr. Winschel has a colony of bees

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M&M Photography

Mr. Winschel is this week’s Fun Faculty Fact Friday feature. Mr. Winschel owns a colony of bees!

Mr. Winschel is a biology teacher at BPHS.

Over the summer, he and Mr. O’Brien took a RET (Research Experiences for Teachers) class at PITT. At the class, they decided to make a STEM project for their students.

Due to them both teaching biology, they decided to make honeycombs for a colony of bees.

The class gave them a 3D printer to use for the project. The students in the classes used Tinkercad to design the combs which Mr. Winschel took home and put in his own colony that he has in his backyard.

For maintaining the bees, it isn’t that hard. He wears a helmet vale so his face doesn’t get stung. He checks the bees every two weeks. This is the first year he has had the bees, and they produced 120 pounds of honey, seven of which he took for himself.

If the bees last over the winter, he will be able to collect the honey for himself.