Mascoma High students build sugar house

From left, senior Thomas Clifford shines a flashlight to get a better look at the depth of sap in the evaporator pan with the help of technician Koby Van Beest and school resource officer Matt Bunten at Mascoma Valley Regional High School in West Canaan, N.H., on Monday, March 18, 2024. Clifford and two of his classmates, Seth Peters and Aidan Smith, built the timber frame sugar house with support from Bunten and Van Beest as part of an Extended Learning Opportunities project after biology teacher Jennifer Fitzgerald received a grant to start sugaring with her students last year. “I was mostly looking for ways to get out of school,” Clifford joked. “We wanted to leave something behind,” he said of the project. “To see it put together – it’s artwork.” (Valley News / Report For America - Alex Driehaus) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Valley News / Report For America — Alex Driehaus

Students stop by to get a look at the sugaring operation in a new student-built sugar shack at Mascoma Valley Regional High School in West Canaan, N.H., on Monday, March 18, 2024. “It’s pretty cool that we’re carrying on a New England tradition,” school resource officer Matt Bunten said, noting that when students started boiling sap in a science class last year, several of them had no idea where syrup came from. (Valley News / Report For America - Alex Driehaus) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Alex Driehaus

From left, seniors Seth Peters and Zak Guziewicz, school resource officer Matt Bunten, biology teacher Jennifer Fitzgerald and senior Aidan Smith boil sap in a sugar house built by Peters, Smith and their classmate Thomas Clifford at Mascoma Valley Regional High School in West Canaan, N.H., on Monday, March 18, 2024. Fitzgerald’s students started tapping sugar maples last year through a Tucker Mountain Challenge grant, and they hope to boil the 45 gallons of sap they’ve collected this year into about one gallon of syrup. (Valley News / Report For America - Alex Driehaus) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Alex Driehaus

Staff report

Published: 03-18-2024 3:41 PM

Modified: 03-19-2024 5:03 PM

CANAAN — Senior Thomas Clifford and two of his Mascoma High classmates, Seth Peters and Aidan Smith, have built a timber frame sugar house with support from technician Koby Van Beest and school resource officer Matt Bunten as part of an Extended Learning Opportunities project after biology teacher Jennifer Fitzgerald received a grant to start sugaring with her students last year.

“I was mostly looking for ways to get out of school,” Clifford joked. “We wanted to leave something behind,” he said of the project. “To see it put together – it’s artwork.”

Fitzgerald’s students started tapping sugar maples last year through a Tucker Mountain Challenge grant, and they hope to boil the 45 gallons of sap they’ve collected this year into about one gallon of syrup.

Bunten noted that when students started boiling sap in a science class last year, several of them had no idea where syrup came from.

“It’s pretty cool that we’re carrying on a New England tradition,” he said.