Local company supports U of L Students’ Union Food Bank

caroline.zentner — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 22:08:01 +0000

Campus was literally abuzz this past summer and the U of L Students’ Union Food Bank is reaping the benefit. Thanks to the presence of 40 of their beehives on campus, Kiwi Brian’s Honey donated 24 kilograms of honey to the ULSU Food Bank this past week.

Landen Stronks, left, managing partner at Kiwi Brian’s Honey, and Gabriel Calixte, right, beekeeper and manager, donated 24 kilograms of honey to the U of L Students’ Union Food Bank. The ULSU’s Jordan Miles, standing at right, and Kate Potts gratefully accepted the donation.

“It’s an incredible way to support our students and our campus community,” says Kate Potts, ULSU vice-president academic. “To have local partners provide that donation speaks to the community that supports the students.”

“It’s lovely that there’s beekeeping on campus that directly benefits students and we are grateful for the donation,” says Jordan Miles, ULSU vice-president operations and finance. “Now especially, students are really struggling. Their loans are running low so they’re finding it hard to buy food. We did a food cart the other day and multiple students told us they hadn’t eaten in a whole day.”

This spring, 40 hives were placed on campus in a pilot project between the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and Kiwi Brian’s Honey, which is a partnership between Landen Stronks and Witdouck Farms. In the peak of the summer, the hives were home to roughly 2.5 million honey bees. The U of L bees have done well and enjoyed a productive summer.

“It is, for us, a pleasure to be able to make this gesture,” says Gabriel Calixte, beekeeper and manager with Kiwi Brian’s Honey.

“What we’ve seen is that the U of L campus location has provided good value to the bees,” says Stronks. “Where the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ is located in the coulees close to the river bottom provides access to different pollen and nectars that the bees may not always have exposure to. Just to have diversity in the ecosystem is better for the bees.”

Bringing the bees on campus also gives Stronks and Calixte the opportunity to raise awareness about bees and agriculture in the broader community.

“Having access to some of the coulees and different resources, the bees have looked very healthy,” says Stronks. “In turn, that helps the environment, but also agriculture. If the bees have access to more resources, they’re healthier.”

Students step into the future

trevor.kenney — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 22:36:22 +0000

For a group of current ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students, the future home of science became a reality recently when they took a step onto the construction site of the new Science and Academic Building.

Members of the Organization of Residence Students (ORS) and residence advisors Kate Potts, Jaylyn Potts, Brady Hornung, Adam Geib and Kya Zoretich were among those given a tour of the building. Having never been on a construction site of this size before, the students say they were left in awe after the tour.

“The main atrium when walking into the building was most impressive to me,” says ORS President, Hornung. “The obvious appeal of having a giant glass wall overlooking the coulees is going to make the space feel very open and welcoming. The way the project is built around this main atrium with offices, meeting rooms and classrooms will create such a positive energy for this hub at the heart of the Science and Academic Building.”

For Kate Potts, ORS vice-president of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall, learning how the building is designed to enhance transdisciplinary work was enlightening.

“I enjoyed seeing how bright and open the space is going to be as well as hearing about the thought that went behind each and every decision made for the project,” says Potts.

Leading the tour of the building was an especially significant highlight for Program Director, Brian Sullivan.

“Students are going to benefit so much from having a state-of-the-art facility to learn and explore in. Being able to show this group of students the spaces they’ll be getting to experience and seeing the amazement on their faces was truly wonderful,” says Sullivan.

As for contributing to the student experience, Vice-President of Coulee View, Adam Geib says the new building will be a huge positive for the future of U of L students.

“I think this building is going to improve the lives of students greatly,” says Geib. “I think it will not only allow for more opportunities to be taken by students who are in the sciences, but as well I think that it will allow other programs to expand and get new spaces of their own since the science labs will be moved over. This building will put the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in the forefront for research and will allow students to experience things they would not have before.”

UNews - Kate Potts

Local company supports U of L Students’ Union Food Bank

Related Topics

Students step into the future

Related Topics