Buzzworthy: Meet Rider University's official student beekeeper

MT. LAUREL, N.J. (WPVI) -- Mt. Laurel's Steve Schwartz is graduating from Rider University where he's the epitome of a "Bee" student.

We're not talking about his grades, we're talking about the kind that buzz and make honey.

Steve's been Rider's official student beekeeper and for him it is all about the bees.

"A third of our food that we eat, the clothes that we wear, if it wasn't for bees' pollination, we wouldn't really have it or there'd be a major void," Steve said.

Steve is a geoscience and sustainability major.

He was working at a campus garden back in 2012 when he found out there were beehives on campus.

That got him hooked.

He's been so passionate about beekeeping another student made a film about him called "Bee-ing Steve."

Schwartz happily teaches other students about caring for bees, has written a manual and even authored a paper about the ethics of beekeeping.

"We need to help sustain the bees because we're dependent on what the bees do to help us," Steve said.

After graduation, he will travel abroad to study volcanoes, then head back to teach chemistry in a Philadelphia school as part of the Teach for America program.

"I haven't been assigned yet, but I'm super excited because I think education is one of the most important issues America's facing right now," Steve said.

Perhaps Steve will share his love of bees with his future students, because it's a hobby he says he'll never give up.

"Yeah I'm gonna beekeep hopefully the rest of my life," Steve said.

Steve Schwartz hopes to eventually earn a master's degree, but regardless of what his grade point average is you understand why we call him a "Bee" student.