Thirty-six years ago, Proctor was one of the first prep schools to dedicate a special period of time to small group projects. Project Period has evolved greatly over the years, and--today--the entire student body is working on highly diverse, concentrated programs. These girls are videotaping a documentary on Project Period from the very start, as many groups pack up for off-campus excursions.

For example, this bus is preparing to head off to Quebec City.

A project to Quebec and Montreal is typical from year to year, while other activities come and go. The perennial standard, though, is maple sugaring. Our weather this week is perfect, with night temps dipping into the twenties, and afternoons soaring into the forties. Proper skills, (how to tap a tree, for example) are taught with a dose of philosophy and ethics.

By tapping, we are wounding a tree, and proper techniques minimize that trauma. Students immediately take over.

Ethical practices are balanced with economic realities. We produce maple syrup as one of many commercial products that justify sound woodlot management.

Buckets are hung on trees growing around the central campus (called "urban environments") and where the lack of slope and concentration of trees precludes the use of plastic tap lines. Across the Blackwater River, at the school's 12-acre sugar bush, competing trees have been thinned out to maximize the growth of maples. Here, on a north-facing slope, gravity will deliver a torrent of sap during the afternoon's warmth. Today, we walk the lines to determine that they are secure and functional. A wandering moose could easily damage lateral lines.

The trees at the foot of the hill are tapped in the traditional manner.

The maple sugaring project involves seventeen students. In the afternoons, approximately one-third of the group learns elementary blacksmithing techniques from George Emeny in the campus forge.

In the next few days, we'll visit several other projects!