The Honey Bee Initiative and the Sweet Virginia Foundation are kindred spirits in educating about the importance of the honeybee in an effort to make the world a better place.
On October 18, 2022, at the Fairfax Campus of George Mason University, the virtual reality video “Hive Alive” was premiered during a special watch party for university partners and local media. The immersive video, which runs just under 10 minutes, was created by Sweet Virginia Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that educates children about the importance and beauty of honeybees. Sweet Virginia’s CEO Dan Price founded the organization in 2008. Around the same time, he was contacted by Lisa Gring-Pemble, co-executive director at Mason’s Business for a Better World Center (B4BW). Gring-Pemble and her team were in the process of raising funds for the Honey Bee Initiative (HBI) and Price’s funding was critical in getting the initiative off the ground. Since its founding, the HBI has empowered communities through sustainable beekeeping, offered opportunities to engage in research and design projects, and to connect with communities at home and abroad. The HBI and the Sweet Virginia Foundation are kindred spirits in educating about the importance of the honeybee in an effort to make the world a better place.
Twenty years ago, Price purchased a Civil War era farm in Gainesville, Virginia. As he was not inclined to work with the typical farm animal, it was only natural that when a bee-loving friend of his shared beekeeping knowledge and guidance that he decided to get his very first box of honeybees. “In those days, I noticed when I would go to parties how I would become the focus of the conversation, talking about how bees work,” he says. “People were really interested.” A couple years later, in 2008, Price decided to spend his birthday at a silent monastery in New Mexico. The silence gave room for him to think deeply about the legacy he wanted to create for the next chapter of his life. “I figured that the thing that resonated when I talked to people about the possibilities was teaching children and showing them the world of honeybees and how they interconnected with so many things in nature,” he says.
Children, and guests of all ages, are always welcomed at the Barn at Sweet Virginia. But Price and his team wanted to make the field trip experience more accessible, leading them to partner with George Mason University on the video project. “I thought that we should create this virtual reality field trip to give as many children in the region, in the country, and in the world the chance to have a ten-minute visit to a honeybee hive with somebody that’s enthusiastic and knowledgeable, explaining to them what’s happening,” he says. The Sweet Virginia Foundation has been in discussions with several area elementary schools about providing the video along with the virtual reality technology required. Price hopes and believes that more and more teachers will recognize the exciting benefits and will begin requesting the video. In addition to partnering with the School of Business at Mason, the College of Education and Human Development, and the College of Engineering and Computing were integral collaborators in bringing Price’s vision to actualization.
Dan Price’s passion for honeybee is contagious. After all, who doesn’t want a happier, healthier planet? Over the past decade and a half, the media has greatly increased coverage on the essential role of the honeybee to the environment. Price and his partners at Mason want to ensure that the subject becomes and remains a significant part of classroom curricula, and in a way that really sticks with the students. “In the modern world, with kids increasingly disconnected from nature, it’s important for them to experience all of its wonders,” he says. “Instead of a feeling that they need nature, they can love nature.” Dan Price is an unabashed nature lover, and by educating schoolchildren in a way that truly resonates, he is inspiring the next generation to be responsible stewards of the planet.
Learn more about Sweet Virginia Foundation’s virtual reality experience here.