It is eight o'clock in the morning. The sun has risen in a frigid sky, and winds are gusting over 40 miles per hour. Across the region, thousands of high school students are heading off to first period classes. Included in that number are our Wildlife Science students, who begin the day not in a warm classroom, but on a wind-swept field in temperatures approaching 5. Now that we have snow, they need to be comfortable on snowshoes. A relay race confirms that everyone can manage.
Next, it's off to the woods for some climbing.
At least, in the woods, we're out of the wind!
Back on campus, spirits are high. Lots of kids love snow; we've gone all winter without it, and half the school is involved in snowsports. Lindsay, however, gives me a tongue-lashing for favoring Alex (many, many times) over her on this site. See if you can identify Lindsay in this picture.
Here's a novelty! The wind howling over the Wise Center has curled back, creating a huge snowdrift on the east side.....completely blocking the glass doors into the lobby! Gee, I hope Alex isn't on the other side!
Just to the left of that image, in the Wise Community Center kitchen, a cooking class is rolling chocolate truffles (not to be confused with gourmet fungi) in confections.
After lunch, forestry class heads up to Ragged Mountain Unit #3, a woodlot that we are logging with the assistance of Jack and Jake Bronnenberg, who have been honored--three years in a row--as the state's best loggers. They are the perfect contractors for Proctor, because of the successful balance they maintain between economic viability and environmental sustainability.
The latter term, "environmental sustainability" has recently entered the popular lexicon, but for ethical/practical loggers, the notion of sustainability is not at all new. Hired, also, to work by the Society for the Preservation of New Hampshire Forests, Jack and Jake Bronnenberg employ equipment and techniques that minimize damage, while fostering natural habitats for a whole host of species on Proctor land. Jack's position is, "We want to do work that makes you want us back in thirty years."
