A local private school has expanded its relationship with Dallas Executive Airport. Last year, Advanced Preparatory International School started a garden at the airport.
"One day, students came and they had some bell peppers, some cream cheese, some sesame seeds on top. 'Try this, try this,'" said the school's founder, Dr. Leicha Shaver. "They really are getting into the garden in ways I didn't expect, but I'm very excited."
The Dallas Department of Aviation has now installed a beehive next to the garden.
"I see a difference from day one," said Advanced Preparatory International School Dean Derek Taylor. "Now, with the bees coming to pollinate, we get to see how bees operate."
"You get to see what you're doing instead of just reading it in a book," one student said.
"I learned bees will travel miles and miles from their home, and they're able to navigate themselves back with their sense of smell," another said.
Shaver says the partnership with the aviation department can give kids practical applications for material they learn in school.
"Expanding the mind, really being able to learn and think," Shaver said, "We have to really be mindful about the bodies God has given us."
Taylor says the project also gives kids experience working together.
"I wouldn't say arguing, but you know how teenagers get to bickering," Taylor said. "Then when you get in this garden, it stops."
The Dallas Department of Aviation says this is the first urban beehive to be installed. The airport system says the garden and beehive will provide a resource for community outreach, giving people who live nearby a place for locally-grown vegetables. The system says the beehive can also "serve as a sustainability initiative to foster honeybee populations."
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