Westminster Begins Sales of Honey from Its Apiary

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The newly founded Westminster Bee Company (WBC), a student-led business focused on selling honey produced at Westminster College’s bee apiary, is now selling its products at the Campus Store.

The Westminster apiary — founded in 2019 by Patrick Krantz, associate professor of environmental science — houses nearly 30 hives and almost 2 million honeybees. The WBC was developed in the spring by students in the environmental entrepreneurship course who were charged with creating a sustainable, student-led enterprise with the products of the apiary.

Krantz teaches apiary management — the science of beekeeping — in both fall and spring terms, and the students help manage the hives and extract the honey. He also co-teaches the cluster course BuzzFeed with Bradley Weaver, broadcast and sport communication lecturer, in which students post content about Westminster’s honeybees and beekeeping on social media.

“It’s been an amazing process to see the students come together to make the Westminster Bee Co. a reality,” said Helen Boylan, professor of chemistry and director of the Center for the Environment. “This has been a wonderful model of collaboration with STEM, business, humanities and other disciplines coming together to achieve a common goal.”

Students in Boylan’s environmental entrepreneurship course are responsible for the marketing, label design and pricing for the WBC, as well as helping to bottle and label the honey.

The raw honey, which is hand-bottled and all natural, is available in three sizes: 15 oz. ($20), 10 oz. ($14), and 5.5 oz. ($8). All proceeds from honey sales support environmental education and maintenance of the apiary at Westminster College.

A honey sale will also take place at McKelvey Campus Center during the Alternative Gift Market, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Nov. 16.

Pictured at top: Deondre McKeever, a senior from Youngstown, Ohio, bottles honey at Westminster College.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.