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Buzzing business: Sen. Heinrich visits ASLA students, harvests honey

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Similar to astronauts suiting up for a space shuttle launch, a group of students from the Albuquerque Sign Language Academy donned protective beekeeping suits at Los Ranchos Agri-Nature Center on Tuesday.

Dressed head to toe in a white, padded suit, these students, who are part of the school鈥檚 Honey Badger Youth Conservation Corps program, were ready to harvest honey from a bee farm at the center.

This time, however, they wouldn鈥檛 be braving the bees alone. Joining them on their harvesting mission was U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., in a protective suit of his own. Standing with the kids among the swarms of buzzing bees, Heinrich watched as Los Ranchos Agri-Nature Center Agriculture Program Manager Joshua O鈥橦alloran pulled honey board after honey board out of the beekeeping boxes and placed them in the harvesting pile.

As he did, the smile on the face of sophomore Serenity Hardy was easy to see 鈥 even through the cover of her protective mask.

鈥淟earning how the bees and flowers work together is really exciting,鈥 Hardy told the Journal through American Sign Language. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my favorite thing.鈥

The beekeeping and honey harvesting are part of the Albuquerque Sign Language Academy鈥檚 Honey Badger Industries program, which provides their deaf and hard of hearing students with education and career training skills that meet the students鈥 abilities.

鈥淭he programming is embedded during the (school) day, and students get to experience a variety of different industries and get workforce experience,鈥 said Charlotte Alderete-Trujillo, the high school and transition coordinator at the Albuquerque Sign Language Academy.

The school offers its middle and high school students a variety of industries in which to get involved 鈥 from bee farming and honey collection to flower arrangements and coffee and food services.

Students can also participate in community beautification services. This type of programming was introduced to the school鈥檚 curriculum three years ago and has been a huge success, according to Rafe Martinez, the executive director and co-founder of the school.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really good for kids to be connected to outdoor education, working with their hands and getting dirty,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd our kids love being in a group that gets something done.鈥

Heinrich鈥檚 office secured $300,000 in federal funds from the FY24 Appropriations Bills for the school to help build out its educational and career training programs. Martinez said those funds will be used to refurbish an old trolley into a working coffee bar, where students will work and sell their goods.

After harvesting the honey, Heinrich visited with several other students who were working in the program鈥檚 other industries and got to see the work they have been doing firsthand.

鈥淚t was pretty cool to interact with the students and see the pride they had,鈥 he said. 鈥淣ot a normal day on the Hill.鈥