Being surrounded by thousands of bees would be a nightmare for most people. Not Zoleigh Borg. On a sunny day, you can find Borg, a self-described social working beekeeper and vice president of the Northeastern Bee Society, doing homework next to the hive she keeps on campus. The thousands of bees she and the Bee Society manage at Northeastern aren’t just a vital part of the university’s urban ecosystem –– they’re a part of her. “It’s all interconnected. That’s the message. That’s the lesson,” says Borg. “Even though we’re so separate in our minds … the things the little guys are doing are still going to change my life, and the things that I am doing are going to impact them way more. There’s a responsibility that I didn’t feel, until I kept bees, for the environment, even though I’d considered myself an environmentalist my whole life.”
Growing up with two beekeeping grandparents, Borg understood the magic and value of bees from a young age, even though she was discouraged from going near her family’s hives. Instead of avoiding hives, her grandparents’ warning only made her more interested. It wasn’t until she did a co-op at Best Bees Company, a Boston-based beekeeping service, that she got her first hands-on exposure to hive life.
