Genesis Students Take Part In A Sweet School Experience [PHOTOS]

A unique tree-tapping, maple syrup-collecting project-based unit for the 26 students in Wilton’s Genesis Program, grades seven through 12, not only provided hands-on learning, it proved an opportunity to forge connections as well.

The culminating pancake-related party for the six-week unit was held Friday morning (March 15) at Trackside Teen Center. Parents and school officials joined students to celebrate their work, sample the syrup that was collected, and enjoy a humorous video prepared by student Andrew Zareski, 15, which detailed the project.

“It was very fun,” Zareski said. “I think honestly it’s about just how closer it brought everyone together. I feel like a lot of people became friends that weren’t originally friends before.”

“And it’s also good learning, you get that exercise in,” he said. “There’s really no downside to it.”

The Genesis maple syrup project-based learning unit was executed in cooperation with various local groups, including Ambler Farm, which lent its expertise, and Wilton Playshop, which provided bathrooms while students were on-site at the nearby property of the participating Wilton Congregational Church tending to the church’s maple grove. The Wilton Educational Foundation helped fund the project, with other groups contributing as well.

“We talked about the history of maple syrup, the role the Native Americans played in it, the role maple plays in the agricultural community, the farm community, the Wilton community and New England,” explained teacher Thomas Koch, who taught the project alongside Genesis teachers Allison D’Alton, Dave DeAngelo, Ann Marie Meehan, and Eileen Wheeler.

“Then we would physically go to the maple grove every Friday and collect the maple sap,” he said.

“Project-based learning is all about doing work that is very tactile, that meets the Connecticut state standards through other ways besides a traditional educational model, and that means involving the community, experts in the community, partnerships,” Koch said.

Students also found it made for a unique way to connect with their peers as well.

“I think it was good,” said Sonja Kirschner, 13, whose father, Jonathan Kirschner, is director of agriculture at Ambler Farm. “It brought people together.”

“When you’re in school you have community, but obviously being outside and doing work together brings people closer, which is something that a lot of people in public schools don’t get sometimes, so to have this opportunity is great,” she said.

Her friend Cody Manners, 17, concurred.

“I think it really brought people together because it was like a lot of teamwork with everybody,” she said, especially remembering the cold morning when the buckets were loaded with ice and had to be dealt with.

She noted that people who might not have ordinarily spoken with one another were able to connect because of their shared activities.

“I think it was really helpful for people to be more open to communication, not just with their designated friends, but like everybody,” she said.

Wilton Public Schools Assistant Superintendent for Special Services Andrea Leonardi was very pleased with the unit’s success.

“The kids have been so excited about doing this work, the kids and the teachers, from running up and down the mountains with the buckets of sap to creating the syrup, to bottling the syrup,” she said.

“It’s just been a great project and I think it really does speak to the power of project-based learning,” she said. “They’ve done integrated work in math and science and reading and writing and research, all integrated into one project.”

“It’s just been a really magical winter for the kids,” she said.