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SBA Young Beekeeper 2023 Jada, North Harford High School
This year, Mr. Hertzog and I tended to multiple apiaries throughout Harford County. We put supers on these hives in May and removed them in July. I harvested honey from my hivefor the very first time, and I was thrilled to share with family, friends, and teachers. In September, we treated hives for varroa mites. Now, the bees are clustering, but I look forward to continuing my beekeeping work in the spring!

SBA Young Beekeeper 2024 Auna, North Harford High School
At North Harford High School, I am part of the agriculture-based magnet program, specifically plant sciences. Part of our curriculum is participating in agriculture outside the classroom, finding a mentor, and earning at least 40 hours (also called a Supervised Agricultural Experience). For mine, I chose beekeeping and applied for the SBA's Young Beekeeper grant. Allowing me to teach about the knowledge I gained through Harford Community College, the SBA, and fieldwork.
Annually, I present beekeeping for Food For America, an agriculture event for elementary schoolers and their parents. During these presentations, I connect with my audience, improve my public speaking skills, and introduce the community to beekeeping. Whether through honey extraction, beeswax candles, or fun facts. Each group asked insightful questions about beekeeping and my experiences.
Although I only have one hive, I have learned immensely about flowers, bees, and honey. The college class helped with disease identification, while monthly SBA meetings always brought new perspectives and ideas. This grant gave me hundreds of dollars of equipment to get started, a great mentor helping me along the way, and a better understanding of bees themselves.
So, I would like to thank the SBA and my mentor, Dennis Hertzog, as I continue to explore the world of beekeeping.


My name is Braeden and I'm entering my second year of beekeeping this Spring. I'm a junior down at Edgewood High School with the International Baccalaureate program and I use beekeeping to work toward my action and service hours for the program. Beekeeping is incredibly rewarding to me as not only do I get to engage myself within the vast scope of information in the beekeeping world, but it's also nice to know that your girls are doing their part in stimulating the local ecosystem. Beekeeping is such a wonderful thing to pour your energy into. Even without harvesting honey, I find myself invested in my bees and their health, and take on a personal sense of accomplishment in knowing they're doing well. And getting that final satisfaction of harvesting some golden honey makes the whole thing even more rewarding.


Hi! My name is Jack and a former recipient of the Susquehanna Beekeeper's Association Young Beekeeper Grant, and have been keeping bees for 3 years come spring. I am currently a senior at Fallston High School and have an excellent mentor, Mr. Hertzog since receiving the grant in my freshman year. I have learned a lot about bees and beekeeping from my mentor, the SBA, and hands-on work with bees, and intend to make beekeeping a life-long hobby. My passion for beekeeping has opened the door to other passions like environmental conservation, and is leading me toward pursuing a career in environmental protection and conservation.


Hello, my name is Lina and I am a Young Beekeeper. I applied for the young beekeeper grant my sophomore year of high school. I currently am a senior at North Harford High School. After high school I will be going onto college to study environmental science. Wherever I go next, I plan to stay involved in beekeeping. By getting my bee grant, I was able to start my own apiary. Within 3 years my apiary has grown to 8 thriving hives which brings me lots and lots of honey!!! Throughout my years as a beekeeper, I have been able to do many exciting things such as make nucs, raise queens, extract honey, cut comb, do mite checks and mite treatment. Not only did my beekeeping grant provide me with all my materials, but also with the very best mentor!