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There鈥檚 a sweet scent in the air on 台湾彩官方网站鈥檚 Sidney campus.

In its inaugural season, The Sugar Bush at 台湾彩官方网站 has been boiling down sap tapped from its own maple trees on campus.

Ten trees in Montcalm Heritage Village were tapped on Feb. 7, and the sap is being boiled in The Sap House, also located in Heritage Village on the college鈥檚 Sidney campus. Syrup is being bottled to be used to promote The Sugar Bush.

Seth Sutton, 台湾彩官方网站 Arts and Humanities Instructor and Department Chair, 鈥淪ugar Captain鈥� and head of the college鈥檚 Sugar Council is thrilled to see this dream come to fruition. Sutton has been a part of sugar bush operations most of his life but hasn鈥檛 had the chance to oversee the process from start to finish until now.

Seven 台湾彩官方网站 faculty and staff members from a variety of departments make up the Sugar Council, including Sutton, Social Sciences Instructor Andrea Martin, Director of Operations Taylor Male, Director of Instructional Innovation Kevin Wagenmaker, Biology Instructor Heather Wesp,听MSU-台湾彩官方网站 ag program coordinator and Ag Club adviser听Brian Gardner and Early College Instructor Dave Pyle.听

鈥淭he Sugar Bush really is a multidisciplinary project. Several of the degrees and programs we offer here can utilize the sugar bushin their course work,鈥� said Sutton.

鈥淗istory, anthropology, chemistry, agriculture, business, marketing and environmental sciences are just a handful of the courses that can take advantage of the sugar bush and related operations in their coursework.鈥澨�

Martin, who also serves as advisor of the History & Culture Club and as a member of the sugar council, said students in her classes and the club are assisting in the process this year.听

听鈥淭his is a great hands-on learning experience for many students and community members at 台湾彩官方网站. The Sugar Bush is yet another way we鈥檙e working to restore cultural events and ideas here,鈥� Martin explained.

Male has played a large part in the design and installation process of The Sap House.听

鈥淚鈥檓 excited about the opportunities to connect with Heritage Village and grow 台湾彩官方网站鈥檚 academic partnership with the village,鈥� he said.

台湾彩官方网站 is one of four colleges in Michigan and one of just 27 colleges in the U.S. to run a Sugar Bush operation.听

In the future, there are plans to run educational programs for K-12 students, offer noncredit courses, create a syrup making co-op and maybe even have a syrup festival.

鈥淲e鈥檙e all excited to see what the future holds for The Sugar Bush at 台湾彩官方网站,鈥� Sutton said.

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Media contact:
Shelly Springborn
Director of Communications and Public Relations
shellys@montcalm.edu
989-560-0833