From classroom to beehive, a Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) graduate is using what they learned in their program to travel throughout the province working to preserve B.C.’s bee population.
Trin Redekop graduated from KPU with a degree in Horticulture Science, majoring in plant health. Soon after graduation, they landed an internship with the BC Technology Transfer Program.
Through research and transfer knowledge, the BC Technology Transfer Program helps mitigate honey bee health and productivity to advance sustainability of the beekeeping industry in B.C.
“We work on applied research which means we connect research with the practical applications of beekeeping and help beekeepers mitigate the problems that face honey bees these days,” says Redekop.
Within the last few decades, honey bees have been threatened by bacterial diseases, parasite and pesticide exposure.
They explained the program team is trying to figure out ways to prevent colony loss and the factors that contribute to colony loss.
“Going through the KPU plant health program really gave me the tools to be successful in the field and in my current internship” says Redekop.
During the final days of their program, they knew they wanted to do this kind of work as soon as they graduated.
“I can’t imagine I’d be doing anything else,” Redekop says. “My favourite part of my job is that I never stop learning. That’s something I was nervous about in graduating from the program was that, that was the cap and I wasn’t going to learn anything else but every single day there’s a new opportunity to learn something different.”