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Company Background

Calm and Confidence is a business dedicated to building relationships and practicing skills used in beekeeping: Anxiety-awareness, problem-solving and observation.

This page was developed by Logan Gray-Sanders, Intern from Central High School 2020. 

 Group of bees eating honey on comb
 

 This started as a student's senior project in my “homeroom” several years ago. After he graduated, the program lived on…

We started with 2 hives on the school’s property in Tacoma, WA and expanded to other schools, community gardens, and private homes. When COVID struck, I took some time off after teaching for 10 years and moved to Little Rock to care of my grandfather. This is how Calm+Confidence beegan! 

Calm+Confidence allows us to mentor youth interested in STEM careers, explore urban beekeeping as a sustainable business model, and partner with meaningful organizations to improve all our neighborhoods.

We're available to connect for a coffee and a conversation to expand our network of pollinator professionals. Holler at us!

 

Our Apiary Manager

Lauren Anderson 

Owner with bucket of bee tools

 

The Bee Interns

We love working with student interns! A great way to offer real-world professional experiences and plant the seed of entrepreneurship for generations to come. 

 

 
Logan Gray-Sanders
Current Intern from Central High
As a new intern this year, she is a hard-worker to get the job done. Her task for C+C is help create the new website and give feedback on monthly emails. The timeliest of the bunch, Logan keeps us in step to reach goals like the release of this beautiful website she designed. 

 

 

 

 

Jack Riley

A graduate of IDEA High School, he has taken over Tacoma's hives to maintain our connections through the city while working at Freighthouse Square Escapee Rooms. Before getting a "real job," Jack served as a professional connection to Robbins Honey Farm, one of our local partners. He loves his time with the bees and aims to make a profession out of it. 

 

 

 

Chase Goldsworth

Chase served as an intern with Jack and Nia to grow our education programs. Working with 2nd graders, he developed lessons and field trips to hives for the kiddos and now wants to study to be a science teacher.

 

 

 

Nia Comegys

She has done it all! From working with kindergarten students to mixing products, she has been the creative side of Bee253 over the years designing labels and posters to engage a larger audience. Nia aims to become a pharmacy tech as engineering products was her favorite part of working with us.

 

 

 

 

 

Bee253

This was our first student-run business located in Tacoma, WA. It started as the school program we described above but blossomed into a full-on LLC. The zipcode for Tacoma was 253, so we repped pride for our city and established our brand as Bee253. Check it out!

  • Presented at the South Sound Sustainability Expo teaching the public about beekeeping and selling products made by students 
  • Partnered with elementary schools to offer field trips to local honeybee hives. Complete with honey tasting! 
  • Ran a booth at Art on the Ave where kids could paint hives that would go into their neighborhood while trying honey straight from the hive
  • Taught several classes at Portland Ave Nursery where students handed out information on planting pollinator plants and ways to support diversity in their yards
  • Led bee-themed trainings for public on pollinators, honeybee health, and making beeswax products in collaboration is Fort Nisqually Living History Museum

 

Your Community

Being active in your community is always beneficial to you and your environment. We encourage people of all ages to participate in our exciting educational journey. Learn more about pollinators, the care honeybees need, make unique products, and create art. 

High School Courses We've Offered

  • Bilingual Beekeeping gave students a hands-on class practicing Spanish. From hive tools to educating the public on the need for pollinators, we traveled to different neighborhoods to teach the public in English and Spanish. Enjoy
    this student-made Infographic in Spanish! 
  • BeeUWT was a partnership with the University of Washington - Tacoma where students pitched thoroughly-researched pollinator habitats to university leadership in Shark Tank-style presentations. The best were selected, built, and installed in the on-site community garden. 
  • Apiary Sciences earned students a science credit through analysis of the lifecycle, threats, and natural selection pressures affecting honeybee populations. The class regularly traveled to hives during the school day to manage and conduct experiments on the hives. Click here to view for more information on Bumblebees, Mason bees, and Leaf cutter bees, all produced in this 9th-12th combined course.