CECIL, Wis. – When Kaelyn Sumner of Cecil was in middle school she was stumped on what to do for a FFA project. After her adviser said she wouldn’t have a project he’d never seen before, she set out on a quest. Seven years later that quest ended with her being crowned American Honey Queen 2024 at the American Beekeeping Federation Conference and Tradeshow in New Orleans. Reaching that goal was surreal, she said.
Wanting to prove that adviser wrong, Kaelyn had combed through 30 years of past FFA projects – and discovered no other projects involved beekeeping. So at 14 years old she became a beekeeper. It turned into an instant passion. She worked hard during high school to share her knowledge of beekeeping with groups across northeast Wisconsin. Her FFA work on specialty-animal production and agriscience-fair research was nationally recognized.
Terry Erdmann was her FFA adviser. He said it was no surprise to him that she’s the American Honey Queen; she has a strong work ethic.
“You can just tell her passion by talking to her,” he said. “She’s had this infectious attitude towards the industry. She was only in her young teens and persevered and didn’t give up. She just kept plugging away and pretty soon it got bigger and bigger and bigger.”
In 2023 she was crowned Wisconsin Honey Queen by the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association. She traveled more than 7,500 miles during her tenure and talked to about 2 million people, from elementary-school students to county fairgoers. And her passion for beekeeping has extended to her college career. At Kansas State University she’s majoring in agricultural education with minors in food science and entomology.
She became interested in honeybees after learning how much they do for humanity.
“Yes, Einstein is quoted saying, ‘We wouldn’t live more than four years without honey bees,’” she said. “No, we would continue to live. We just would have such a boring diet.”
Because she’s going to school to be a teacher, Sumner said educating people about pollinators feels natural.
People are also reading…
“I love elementary students,” she said. “They ask the hardest but also the most thoughtful questions.”
Her college courses have taught her a lot about honeybee biology. That knowledge she’s able to bring into classroom talks – for example in front of Advanced Placement biology classes in high schools.
As she settles into the role of American Honey Queen, Sumner said she’s looking forward to promoting honey consumption and the importance of beekeeping to food science. Espousing American honey is a central tenant because bees pollinate major crops in all 50 states.
“In Wisconsin they pollinate our cucumbers, apples, cranberries, cherries and blueberries,” she said. “But they're also pollinating all the almonds in California. Every year there are 2 billion colonies of honeybees in California.”
As the American Honey Queen, she will surely exceed her previous record of traveling 7,500 miles. As of March 5 she had just returned from a four-day trip to New Jersey. Then March 6 she left for a five-day trip to Kentucky. She then had two days at home before a five-day trip to Florida.
American Honey Queen Program Chairperson Anna Kettlewell said between its two representatives the organization strives to visit at least 30 states annually. That means the pair can collectively travel anywhere from 200 to 300 days throughout the year.
But to Sumner, all that buzzing around is worth it.
“I greatly enjoy sharing this amazing industry all across the United States,” she said.
Visit www.abfnet.org and www.honey.com and www.buzzingacrossamerica.com and youtube.com – search for American Honey Queen – for more information about honey.
This is an original article written for Agri-View, a Lee Enterprises agricultural publication based in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit AgriView.com for more information.
Carter Jones writes about agriculture as a staff reporter for Agri-View based in Wisconsin.