UCSB Student Bees bridges generational gaps through student-led services

UC Santa Barbara’s student-founded service-based organization Student Bees strives to connect older local residents with students, providing a variety of services and forming connections in the community through its work. Fourth-year communication major Samai Dhaliwal, third-year biology major Koa Papandrew and UCSB student Zane Pinedo founded Student Bees in February 2026. The organization is an online marketplace agency where Santa Barbara community members can seek assistance for manual labor tasks from student workers, including moving, yard work, furniture assembly and tech support for seniors. “We’re basically the matchmakers matching the client to the student that best is able to fulfill their needs,” Papandrew said. In October 2025, the founders began developing their ideas into the organization that would eventually become Student Bees. Co-founders Dhaliwal, Papandrew and Pinedo met through the New Venture Program, which is managed by UCSB’s Technology Management program.

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