Cooper Middleton has always had a passion for bees. When he was 5 years old, he eagerly stood side-by-side with his grandpa, Bob Traill, who had a staggering 16 hives on his Argyle property and seemingly knew everything there was to know about beekeeping. Every day, they’d suit up and wander out to the hives together, add and rotate frames, check brood patterns, maintain equipment, and even harvest, filter, and bottle sweet honey.
It was a fun hobby that his parents and the rest of the family also got involved with, and as the years went on, Cooper was more than content with beekeeping being exactly that—a hobby.
“To me, being around the bees was a normal part of life. It was something my grandpa did, and it intrigued me because it wasn’t something everyone gets a chance to do,” Cooper said. A Lantana resident, Cooper just wrapped up his senior year at Guyer. “When I asked if I could help, he said, ‘Why not?’ We did it all together, and it was always a fun experience.”
These days, beekeeping has become a lot more than a hobby.
Cooper earned national recognition for his work in beekeeping at the 98th Annual National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis last October. Roughly 40,000 people packed Lucas Oil Stadium that weekend to see what was once a field of 23,000 competitors in the Specialty Animal Production Proficiency category, whittled down to three finalists.
Cooper, who logged more than 300 hours of detailed notes and activities in his beekeeping journal over the course of his high school career, had won district, area, and state events to qualify for nationals. He finished as Reserve National Champion.
“I may not have won, but it was a wonderful experience,” Cooper said. “I remember being at the state event; everything was moving so fast, and there you are on stage, under these bright lights and in front of 18,000 people. By the time I got to nationals, I was finally used to all eyes being on me. It was pretty amazing.”
So, how did Cooper go from playing with bees on his grandparents’ property to competing on a national stage? His ag teacher at Guyer, Tracy Kalka-Nurenburg, knew he had been beekeeping on the side and suggested that he start competing. Her nephew had done something similar in the past, and she saw the same potential in Cooper.
He had the right mix of curiosity, patience, and hands-on experience to take beekeeping beyond a backyard hobby.
The problem was that this conversation didn’t happen until his junior year. To have a shot at winning district—which included competing against 16 other FFA chapters—meant going back to his freshman year and tracking everything he had done on a daily basis at the hives in a journal. What followed was a painstaking process of retracing his steps, covering everything from hive counts and equipment upgrades to even the most minor day-to-day responsibilities.
“It took 900 hours to complete all four years of high school, and the notes had to be detailed,” he said. “Every time you look at the hives, you add them to the log. If your suit rips, you have to record it. If you’re checking brood patterns, you log that, too. Last year alone, I was at the school as early as 8 a.m., making sure everything was in place. My teacher and other people checked it … it had to be absolutely perfect.”
And it was. After winning district, Cooper rolled through the area round and was one of 12 competitors to make it to state.
He won the state meet with a score of 99.2, then submitted his application for nationals.
“I had five days to fix any mistakes from the state meet,” Cooper said. “It was nerve-racking, but also exciting.”
Now that the whirlwind of competing in FFA competitions is behind him, Cooper said he doesn’t intend to put his beekeeping skills on the back burner. He will be attending Oklahoma State in the fall, and while his focus will be on biochemistry and molecular biology, he’s already scoped out OSU’s beekeeping setup.
“They have an amazing entomology program in place, so this is something I definitely intend to keep doing,” he said.
Not bad for a backyard hobby that started with a few hives and a little curiosity.
