Saturday is World Honeybee Day – a day designed to raise awareness of the plight of honeybees whose populations have been decimated in recent decades.

No one is raising awareness better than 17-year-old Toms River resident Kaitlyn Culbert, who wears the crown as the New Jersey Beekeeper's Association "New Jersey Honey Queen" of 2023. While most monarchies are ceremonial and inherited, this honey queen seriously earned her title through hard work and a passion for these amazing and all-important creatures.

In addition to securing donations and the land for the hives she maintains at Jakes Branch Park in Ocean County, she founded the Ocean County 4-H Busy Bees beekeeping club to teach young people about beekeeping. She also runs her Instagram and YouTube channels. Culbert also conducted and published a study into the effectiveness of using diffused essential oils to stop the varroa mite, a honeybee killer that causes “Colony Collapse Disorder.”

On today's "Brian's Positively New Jersey,” Brian Donohue suits up in a beekeeper suit to visit the hives with Culbert and hear how she became the face of New Jersey beekeeping.