Guest Post by Bachelors of Applied Science in Sustainable Practices (BASSP) senior Colleen Willson.

As a BASSP student, you are required to do five credits worth of an internship. This is a fact that I glossed over upon applying for the program, and soon felt overwhelmed by as I sorted through the various internship possibilities. The internship requirement is designed to provide us with real-world experiences and connections that will benefit us after we graduate from Cascadia. This is a great idea, but along with it came the pressure of feeling that I had to choose the “right” one. What I would never have guessed is that the “right” internships would involve spending nearly every spare moment watching, studying, and supporting bees. I began by participating in CCUWBee, the Cascadia College and UW Bothell Bee Research Initiative, which studied the diversity and abundance of native bees on campus. This experience led to an exciting opportunity, interning with BEEvesting, a program established by 21 Acres and their partners to invest in local agriculture and the community of Woodinville by collaborating with community and local organizations to increase awareness of the presence of small farms in the Sammamish Valley area and to provide healthy habitat for pollinators.

CCUWBee volunteers present at the BEEvesting table!

My initial meeting with the program sponsors; 21 Acres, Sammamish Valley Alliance, the Sammamish Valley Grange, and Coastal Community Bank; was an opportunity for all involved to dream big, consider possible projects and events, and start creating a plan for the future. I took on the task of doing much of the initial research, orienting myself with the local area, identifying possible business partners, and meeting with local farmers. Prior to my involvement in BEEvesting, the program creators had worked with Rent Mason Bees to distribute 75 mason bee boxes to local farmers in an effort to boost the farmers’ annual yield. I personally visited the owners or NW Bloom, Off the Branch Farm, and Olympic Nursery to hear what they thought of the mason bees and whether the addition seemed to enhance their yield. After only one season of hosting mason bees, there wasn’t enough data for the farmers to say definitively that their yield was boosted by the presence of the bees, but they all had a positive experience and one described the mason bees as “enthusiastic pollinators.”

Since this program was in its infancy when I joined it, I was presented with the opportunity to take on a number of management tasks to help fully develop the program beyond Mason Bee distribution. My co-intern and I established the scope and mission of BEEvesting and produced informational material that reflected our mission. After recognizing a need, I established BEEvesting’s social media presence on both Instagram and Facebook, developed a mailing list, and created a monthly newsletter. As a team, we created a schedule of bee-related events for 2020 and designed the program in a way that will enable future interns to easily insert themselves and continue with the various projects. We also developed and are eagerly awaiting the results of a grant proposal for funds from King County to support a pollinator planting project in Spring of 2020.

Colleen with other 21 acres interns and CCB staff

For me, the highlight of this internship included any time that I was able to interact with the community or the local farmers. I believe that developing relationships with others helps secure your value in the community, so establishing credibility with the community and other partners was a vital part of my internship experience. Early on, I worked alongside Coastal Community Bank to promote BEEvesting during the Celebrate Woodinville events. In September, I created a three-table display for the Sammamish Valley Alliance’s “Celebrate Fall Harvest” event during which I developed and implemented educational stations that were facilitated by volunteers from CCUWBee and Coastal Community Bank. This event contributed to community building by providing a fun, family activity for all ages that has the potential to impact our local environment. During the Woodinville Garden Club’s annual meeting held at 21 Acres, I was given the opportunity to speak about BEEvesting which resulted in securing a small donation from the garden club to support the program with the promise of additional volunteer support in future planting events. In the fall, I followed up with Rent Mason Bees to discuss lessons learned regarding the mason bee event and requested a cost proposal for next season’s distribution. The information gathered from these conversations was presented to our BEEvesting sponsors to request further financial support for that project. In November, I attended a class about pollinator conservation in agricultural land with the hopes that this information would guide our future interactions with local farmers. All of these events provided me with the opportunity to talk to people about the importance of bees in agriculture and to hear their often entertaining stories about their experiences with bees.

The BEEvesting team would like to be able to demonstrate to the local community how they can support farmers by providing healthy habitats for native bees in their yards and hopes to foster a partnership with groups that promote alternatives to pesticides in an effort to aid in this goal. We are also hoping to inspire non-agricultural related businesses to invest in the health of pollinators by encouraging them to plant pollinator friendly plants in their landscapes.

This internship has given me a breadth of experience in project and program management, outreach, community organization, and lessons in agricultural practices. The sponsors of this program have been amazingly supportive and helped me work toward developing a number of resume-building skills. I am particularly grateful to the team at 21 Acres for allowing me to use their building as my “office” during this internship and for welcoming me so warmly into their community. All three of my mentors; Robin, Brenda, and Kristi; were amazing to work with and provided me with guidance, support, and laughter throughout this experience. Although my internship is completed, I intend to continue working with BEEvesting on a volunteer basis to complete some of the projects that we’ve started and to help recruit future interns.

Colleen is a senior in the Bachelor’s of Applied Science program in Sustainable Practices (BASSP) and will be graduating in June 2020! You can learn more about the BASSP program at www.cascadia.edu/bassp