Eighth grader Tori Sanders is already planning her retirement surrounded by bee hives and flowers.
Sanders has been a longtime lover of the bees. She first found her passion while being around her grandpa’s bees.
Her hobby has become a family affair, and something she can enjoy with her parents, Denise and Larry. They have loved getting to learn with her and are proud of how much knowledge she has gained in the last year.
“I just think it’s really fun to see the bees working, and then going into the hive every once in a while and seeing the progress that they make,” Sanders said. “It’s just really fun to see how much they’ve built.”
Sanders received a scholarship through the Northeastern Kansas Beekeepers’ Association last April. The program awarded her with her own hive, bees, supplies and bee suit.
Although it was a little overwhelming to learn how to care for the bees at the beginning, it taught Sanders life lessons, along with the importance of keeping pollinators alive.
It’s taught her how to be a better learner after taking in so much information about the process. But firstly, it taught her patience and how nature works, she said.
She was also assigned two mentors who have helped teach her about the bees and be there through the beekeeping process.
“They told me how to do everything, and then they demonstrated everything,” Sanders said. “It was a lot, but it was super fun.”
Joli Winer and her husband Cecil Sweeney are Sanders’ mentors. They have been beekeeping for about 50 years. The two have been mentoring since the program started about 20 years ago.
Winer said her goal with the project is to get families involved and get kids to spend time with nature.
“One of the things the scholarship provides is a lot of the kids really don’t have any contact with nature much and maybe a little bit in their science class or whatever and, when you have honey bees, you become really aware of the weather, you become aware of the plants that are in bloom around you,” Winer said.
Sanders has presented about bees to two elementary school classes. This past week, Sanders presented to Amber Jackson’s second grade class. She taught about pollinators, their importance and how they play a role in a lot of the food people eat. Sanders hopes her presentation will lead a student to become a beekeeper themselves.
“I want them to realize that bees aren’t dangerous and that they just sting when they feel like they are in danger, but I also want them to know that they’re pollinators and that they are the reason that we have so much of the food that we have and the flowers,” Sanders said.
This year her hive has yielded about 40 pounds of honey. Oftentimes hives don’t produce their first year, Larry said.
Her parents agree the bees have taught her a lot about hard work, responsibility and even about managing her emotions.
“We had a time period where we thought that perhaps the queen wasn’t laying eggs and so she went through a bit of a roller coaster there,” Larry said.
She’s in charge of making sure the bees have what they need to survive, Denise said.
“She knows that if she doesn’t take care of them, that’s a whole colony right there that’s gone,” Denise said.
The presentations have also been a lesson in public speaking and teaching others about her passion.
She bottled and sold honey at five Main Street Markets and was able to make some money from it. She also plans to sell honey and flavored sticks at the holiday market during the mayor’s tree lighting.
It served as a great lesson in entrepreneurship too, Larry said. She had to talk to shoppers, provide them information and handle the money.
Next, Sanders will attend the Northeastern Kansas Beekeepers’ Association’s meeting in two weeks to present what she has learned during her scholarship. She hopes to continue to give presentations wherever she is wanted and to spread awareness for an important cause.
Beekeeping will always be a hobby in her life, as well as spreading the importance of saving the bees, she said.
Follow her Facebook account here. She also hopes to start a Tik Tok to show people the process as her Go Pro is strapped to her suit.
As she grows up, the bees will hopefully always remain. She’s already making plans for her parents to babysit them when she goes to college, Denise said. On top of that, her retirement plan is pretty simple.
“I just want a little house with one or two hives and a lot of flowers. That’s all,” Sanders said.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].
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