Thetford Academy’s international students added a crucial ‘Vermont Experience’ to their resumes on Saturday, March 14, 2022, by stacking wood, stoking the fire, and standing around the evaporator watching maple sap boil down to syrup in TA’s own student-built Sugar Shack. In a lucky weather break, despite the fact that Vermont's typical March sleet and rain had fallen onto campus overnight, students arrived as a steady ‘Sugar Snow’ descended, delightfully, from the dreary sky. They pressed fresh flakes into bowls, forming the base for their first taste of ‘sugar on snow,’ and dug into the sticky delight. The students, hailing from China, Italy, Spain and Thetford, also enjoyed homemade waffles prepared by International Student Coordinator Susan Essex Luce; meanwhile, in addition to preparing the sugar on snow, outdoor educator Scott Ellis taught students the ins and outs of sugaring - including the lingo (sap run, tapping, drawing off, etc.) and weather requirements (freezing nights and warm days) - and that in Vermont, the saying goes, 'if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute'. At the end of the morning, students understood that ‘make hay while the sun shines’ really means ‘make syrup when the sap runs’ in Vermont!
