Marc Roux

Marc Roux is a retired biology and geology French teacher who taught mostly outside of his country (Ottawa in Canada, Montevideo in Uruguay, and Bethesda). A passionate naturalist since childhood and mostly oriented toward Vertebrates, he discovered the world of bees while preparing for his zoology oral exam during his third year of university. He kept his promise of becoming a beekeeper through the MCBA’s introductory program in 2022, nearly 40 years after leaving university. He manages the RochamBees program for groups of students in grades 5 through 12 at Rochambeau, the French International School. Depending on the levels, students go to the school’s apiary or Marc brings a demo beehive and /or a honey extractor to the classrooms. The curriculum covers subjects from Basic Biology of bees and beekeeping to Heredity in Honey Bees (genetics and epigenetics). Marc has learned a great deal at the Brookside’s apiary, thanks to the people he met there, and since last year he has been participating in sessions as a mentor. Because he has always been very interested in genetics, Marc is now focused on breeding male bees to fix desirable traits in local bee populations. The purpose of this presentation is therefore to explain the benefits of rearing local drones.