What sorts of animals do most people have? Dogs, cats, maybe a hamster or fish. Most would be surprised to learn that Assistant Principal Mr. Michael Quigley owns thousands of animals.

How, you may ask, does Mr. Quigley and his family support so many critters? Well, it’s because they do it themselves. Mr. Quigley is a proud beekeeper. “It’s a great hobby for anyone without a major allergy to get into,” he said.

“I was working with a student at the time who was very concerned about the current decrease in bee population,” Mr. Quigley said, so he decided to go and be a part of the solution to the problem. After getting a manmade beehive and plenty of bees, the bees went to work, gathering plenty of nectar, pollinating the local flora, and producing honey, which they need to survive.

“I have about ten thousand or so bees,” Mr. Quigley said, but he claims that the bees are actually a relatively small responsibility, and are “usually better off just minding their own business.” Though it may be seen as an irresponsible way of taking care of most pets, leaving the bees mostly autonomous is for their benefit. They are better off running the hive themselves; after all, not many natural hives ever needed human supervision.

His knowledge on how bees function as a hive has come in handy at times. One day a few years back, Mrs. Donna Hopper, a teaching assistant, heard that her car was being swarmed by a hive in distress. Their queen was missing and they believed that she was in Mrs. Hopper’s car.

“Mr. Quigley knew just how to handle the situation a few years back” she said.  He calmly got the area cleared and called a contact to help him safely remove the bees from the vehicle. Not many of the MHS staff members knew he was a beekeeper at the time, including Ms. Hopper, but from then on he was the hero of that one wacky day.

The low maintenance nature of owning the hives makes them easy for nearly anyone to pick up as a hobby because they are not as big of a commitment as they might seem to be. What might also turn people away from the prospect of beekeeping would be the potential to be stung. However, honey bees, the type used in beekeeping, are very passive and almost never sting, especially because they die after stinging, so they only sting under extreme duress.

The declining population of wild bees worldwide, makes beekeeping not only a fun hobby, but one that the world desperately needs more people to take up in order to keep plants pollinated and healthy, according to sos-bees.org

Beekeeping is easy to get and stay into. It is also not too dangerous, and is desperately needed for the environment to thrive. This often overlooked hobby is highly recommended by Mr. Quigley as it has been a great experience for him, his family, and the world around him. Every hive made is helpful and every person who tries the hobby will not only get to proudly call themselves a beekeeper like Mr. Quigley can, but also know that they are making a difference in fixing a major problem that affects the world.