Stan and Karen Johnson
OFFICE OF GLOBAL PROGRAMS
Welcome to the newest edition of Going Global, the quarterly newsletter that provides readers with information and reflections on the international experiences of GCC students. Presented by: The Stan and Karen Johnson Office of Global Programs Director: Dr. Lois Johnson Field Director: Dr. Mark Reuber Study Abroad: Mrs. Jennifer Gilliland Global Studies Assistant: Mrs. Maria Morin Student Advisors: Cailyn Chiarello, Anna Cook, Allyson Davies, Emma Kauffman, Margaret Hosack,
Lydia Rothbard, Jenna Crampsey
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Ravello
Coronavirus and Future International Travel At Grove City College It’s been an interesting semester for Grove City College, the Office of Global Programs and for students who studied abroad this spring or had planned to go abroad this spring or summer. As of now, just before Easter, all students who studied abroad are completing their coursework at home, and everyone who would normally be in the OGP is working from home. Grove City College students are also completing their coursework at home, and those who might have future plans to study abroad or take a faculty-led travel course, or to participate in an ICO or Red Box, are left wondering if they will get the chance to do so in the future. This is a season of uncertainty, but we are currently planning travel for next year. Travel courses are recruiting students for January and May, 2021. You can find out more about some of these courses in this newsletter. We are also planning study abroad for fall, 2020 and spring, 2021. Although study abroad in the fall may yet be uncertain, we are hopeful that spring, 2021, will be a resurgent time for international travel, including all the international options that GCC has to offer. We hope that you will consider these options for the future as we work through this current threat together. We continue to pray for our students, our campus community, our country, and our world. Working together with unwavering faith, we will prevail and emerge stronger than ever. The Staff of the Office of Global Programs
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” –John 16:33
by Cailyn Chiarello
Saving the Bees‌ An International Journey to Research and Support Bee Health Featuring Dr. Tracy Farone by Anna Cook If you are looking for a good way to bring your community together for a good cause, wouldn’t having an apiary be at the top of your list? It is for GCC biology professor Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Tracy Farone. She has beautifully involved a handful of Grove City community members in creative ways with her apiary project. First, she invited five Biology students to work on this project and do research with her, while also working with the Botany students of the college to put together and categorize the plants that will make up the garden where the bees will live. This garden is located behind the college right on the edge of school property. Next, she started working with the Art students in Professor Sanders classes to help design the artwork painted on the outside of the bee boxes. She shared that bees recognize colors and designs - so by the artwork on the sides of the bee boxes, the bees would each know which was their home. Professor Sanders is currently working with the youth at George Junior Republic to prime these bee boxes before his students add their artwork to complete them.
Dr. Tracy Farone
Another community partner, Ernst Conservation Seeds has also been involved in donating pollinator friendly plants for the project.
Dr. Farone has also involved the Entrepreneurship Department at the college by having a few students design community outreach materials and develop a brand for the small business that will hopefully result. She would love to sell honey and beeswax products next fall if the project moves forward as planned. She has begun gardening and preparing the area in hopes that in late April or early May there will be bees out there making their homes!
Farone has had the opportunity and privilege to spend time on the Crow Reservation in Montana with a couple migratory beekeepers. Montana, being our number one state producer of honey, is home to many bees. The Crow Reservation is home to 10,000 bees alone, but only for certain seasons of the year. They are migratory in that as different cherished crops come into season, the bees are then shipped to these areas to pollinate the produce. Ninety percent of the almond yield in California is the result of bee pollination, and there are approximately two million bees each season shipped to the almond groves there each year. The bees then go to other locations ranging from California to Washington, and even to Florida, to pollinate apples, cherries, blueberries, pumpkins, and various other crops in their season. As Farone observed, asked questions, and took part in the work on the Crow Reservation, she learned that this migratory way of life was detrimental to the health of the bees. They are exposed to a myriad of stresses as they are moved from place to place. They experience the discomfort of shipment and the lack of diverse nutrition for an extended period of time while being in the company of sometimes millions of other bees that come with their own pathogens and diseases. Dr. Farone shared, “This is a bio-security disaster every year.� As she has continued to research and learn best practices for caring for bees, she hopes to restructure the way this is carried out here in the United States. Some of Farone’s research has included a twoweek trip to France to visit Oniris, a school with one of the only bee-focused veterinary programs in the world. While Oniris provides training in veterinary medicine for bees, the Grove City College European study center in Nantes also partners with them for our semester-long fall program for mechanical and electrical engineers. While in Nantes, Farone was able to work alongside and learn from a few of the research professionals doing work there. GCC students at the apiary
Following her time in France, Farone travelled to Scotland to do more in-depth study with a veterinary medicine bee researcher in Edinburgh. As she gathered information in Europe, she discovered veterinarians and beekeepers must work together to provide the best healthcare possible for the bees, not only for the well-being of the bees but also for the people of our nation, as bees are an essential part of our environment. Even though bees are an agricultural animal, veterinarians are largely not educated in bee healthcare and beekeeping. In addition, most beekeepers also are not extensively educated on how to protect their bees from sickness and how to care for them best when they do become ill. Historically in the United States, beekeepers (as owners) have been bees’ primary healthcare providers. But as veterinarians are beginning to learn more and become more educated on the subject, disagreements and heated issues have arisen, causing a disruption in the whole bee-keeping industry. As honeybees are not native to North America, Farone stated that Europe is years ahead of the United States in working through this dilemma. In 2017, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to take action by mandating that bee healthcare now being under the umbrella of veterinary medicine. Agriculture asked Farone to educate veterinarians on bee medicine, and as a result she lectured at the Penn State Veterinarian Extension Conference. As of right now, the American Veterinarian Medical Association has asked her to share her learnings and research at their convention in San Diego, California come August. On behalf of the Pennsylvania Veterinarian Medical Association, she will speak and do some hands-on work in their bee yards this summer. Dr. Farone also desires to have a local Continuing Education conference with lecture, followed by a visit to Ernst Conservation Seeds for more engaged learning. With all of her research and experience, she is in high demand for speaking and educating in this field and will no doubt be very engaged in more of this meaningful work for the foreseeable future. As she is able to share her research and knowledge, she hopes there will be a new resolve and a healthy, systematic approach to bee medicine and healthcare. You can learn more about this exciting work at www.pabeevet.com.