It’s National Honey Month and Vulcan fans who attended the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo women’s volleyball game on September 21 were treated to free giveaways of honey products courtesy of the UH Hilo beekeeping program.
“The program is grateful to athletics for allowing us the opportunity to celebrate National Honey Month at their game. It provided us the venue to share the importance of bees and share some of the bounty that comes from them,” said Lorna Tsutsumi, professor of entomology who heads the Adopt-A-Beehive with Chef Alan Wong program at the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management.
“It was fantastic to have a nice crowd on hand to not only witness a highly entertaining game but experience the great things that our students are learning at UH Hilo,” said Patrick Guillen, director of UH Hilo Athletics.
There were 637 fans in attendance at the UH Hilo vs. Concordia University Irvine volleyball game, enjoying the action while also getting a taste of the popular beekeeping program.
Students from the introductory beekeeping class (Entomology 262) gave away honey bears, fans, pretzels and honey mustard made with honey from the UH Hilo beehives located on the university’s agricultural farm laboratory in Panaʻewa. Special lucky number gift bags filled with honey and other bee promotional items were given away during intermission. Fun bee facts were also announced throughout the games.
“It was nice to see the beekeeping students share their curricular knowledge with the community and their fellow students,” said Tsutsumi.“The best part was that UH Hilo won!”
Guillen said the night was a huge success, adding a mahalo to Tsutsumi and her students.
For more visit UH Hilo Stories.
—By Susan Enright
