Jade Sweeney
Jacksonville, NC
Supporting our key pollinators
Jade is an 18 year old from North Carolina who is combating Colony Collapse Disorder and addressing bee conservation by introducing apiaries and pollinator parks in her local schools.
Jade founded the Pollinator Initiative, which brought bees to the campus of her high school. She has a goal to replicate her work at other schools in the area. Jade has raised grant funding and awareness of pollinators, organizing students to become certified beekeepers with the help of a local beekeeping organization. In April of 2017, bees were introduced to the White Oak area, and have since been maintained pesticide-free. Jade is promoting the importance of honey bees in the ecosystem and is exposing students to the reality of declining bees and beekeepers. She will be starting her freshman year at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall of 2018.