Cuspidor Work Bee Edition

By Risha Reddy and Luckya Xiao, S5 Contributors

To bee or not to bee at a work bee, that is the question,

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The stings and sp-arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a bee of troubles

Despite the stress caused by an overload of schoolwork and the pandemic, work bees help us stay motivated and relaxed.

Once a week, our ‘bee colony’ meets up in the ‘hive’ (Google Meet) for a work bee session. Our routine begins by giving updates and going over our activities. Some tasks include researching plants, green roofs, alvars, and pollinator researchers, adding to our glossary, and creating fun content for our website. To end off on a hive note, we randomly select winners to receive bee-utiful, hand-crafted masks from Ms. Straszynski as an expression of gratitude towards the hardworking volunteers.

Through these work bees, we gained time management, organizational, leadership, and teamwork skills. For instance, we made time out of our buzzy schedules to plan for future meetings by discussing new tasks, brain-swarming methods to make our sessions more engaging, and sending emails to students. We also had the unique opportunity of presenting to teachers at a Wellness Conference, which enabled us to develop the confidence to speak in front of a professional audience.

Overall, we find work bees to be an ama-sting experience! We have fun planning for our sessions and interacting with new people.

We were amazed at how much the UTS community became involved in work bees. With a turnip of around twenty people during our first session, our numbers only continued to increase as the weeks went on. Our work bees brought together students from all grades— many of whom we hadn’t had the chance to meet before. This provided the chance to form new friendships and deepen our community-bond.

If you are looking for a way to earn volunteer hours and to destress, be on the lookout for our bee-mails!

And by not attending them? To cry: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a devastation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To bee, at a work bee;

By: Trillium Shakes-bee-re (aka Risha Reddy and Luckya Xiao)

Poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56965/speech-to-be-or-not-to-be-that-is-the-question

Pictures:

Puns:

What do you call a beehive without an exit?

Unbelievable.

What animals are smarter than talking parrots?

Spelling bees.

I cannot bee-leaf how good these puns are!

Can you beak-lieve how long that hummingbird’s tongue is?

Comic: