Ithaca College South Hill Maple Syrup

by Breanne Durning
5/12/10

Sweet Success

History

Three Ithaca College graduates, Chris Shapiro, Charles Tonks, Ben O’neil, decide to start making maple syrup. Because they didn’t have the proper equipment, they worked out an agreement with a local commercial producer; the students collected the sap on the property they still use today. Shapiro, O’Neil and Tonks used the commercial sugar shack and to produce the syrup, they had to give up half of what they produced to the owner.

The site of the syrup production today is located on Ithaca College property. One can access it by going down Coddington road and it’s the fourth right, it’s called Rich Road. It’s a dead-end, students and maple syrup enthusiasts must park their car and venture into the woods a couple of yards.

“The physical plant made us a trail, which we didn’t have the first year. And that allows us to get all our production materials out there and get the sap back much easier,” said Tyler Glassman, a senior business administration major.

“The following year they were not down for that and they wanted to be able to make their own. So they got involved with Jason Hamilton and he setup, an independent study, and they asked me to come along with it to do the marketing and sales, but I ended up doing some producing because they wanted me to take it over next year. So I had to learn how to do it,” said senior business and market major, Rachel Glassberg.

In order for the IC students to construct a sugar shack at the maple syrup site, they would need to receive funding from the school, or raise enough money to cover all the costs.

“They realized is that it was going to cost them over $10,000 to make a sugar shack, and in order to do that we needed to sell a lot of maple syrup. So we started from there. Last year was the official first year of South Hill Maple Syrup, where we were actually producing boiling on our own land, and not have to give any of our maple syrup away,” said Glassberg.

“We wanted this to be a class,” continued Glassberg, explaining that professor Jason Hamilton of the Central for Natural Sciences, help to give this independent study structure. Hamilton often visited the students out at the syrup site. His lesson on the first day, how to identify a sugar-maple tree: “If you notice the bark splits side to side, it peels at the edges,” Hamilton said placing his hand on the tree’s trunk. “A maple tree’s branches are opposite, so if you have the side-splitting bark and the opposite branch growth, 99 percent sure you are standing in front of a maple tree.”

This Year’s Results

“Last year we produced about 1.86 gallons, and this year it’s hard to tell, because we were dealing with people who had never done this before. We originally had maybe two gallons. We had to re-boil a lot of it because it was boiled incorrectly, it was cloudy syrup and we didn’t want to sell anything that was below par. We tapped double the trees, we wanted more people to be able to get the syrup.”

“This year is not quite exactly what I expected,” Glassberg pauses, “I mean, very proud of everything we did, we got as much syrup as we possibly could. One other person, Tyler Glassman, who was involved in the group when the guys originally started with John Conifer, he also helped out, between him and I, we were the only two who knew anything about making maple syrup or about maple syrup in general,” a smile breaks across Glassberg face.

“People who signed up and participated had no idea that syrup came from trees and you had to go to the woods to do that. So as far as how much people learned and our outcome, I think I’m happy with that,” she said.

Rrecruitment for Next Year/Future of South Hill Maple Syrup

“I feel like it wasn’t as advertised as well prior to us doing the project. But that was also part of our job as a business, trying to market our product and I think that has improved throughout the semester. We had people working the marketing for it and we did try to spread the word more,” said Glassman, reflecting on the students.

“The more people we can get with the different experiences the better I think it would be. It would be better if we could get people who liked being out doors, and have started fires, and into science experiments,” Glassberg says of the future successors of South Hill Maple Syrup.

“I’m glad that it was offered as an environmental research class, and that I got to participate in it and I hope that it gains popularity. It seemed that it was starting to gain popularity. Hopefully kids sign up and keep it going. I would like to see it continue throughout the years and keep on growing and keep on improving and maybe tapping more trees,” Glassman smiles talking of South Hill Maple Syrup’s future.

The South Hill Maple syrup crew ran a successful open house, inviting all faculty, students, and community members alike. Flyers for maple syruping can be found at the entrance way of CNS and the Park business school.

Glassman admits, “It was lacking in previous years. It was only really known by people we knew, word-of-mouth kind of thing.”

But now a possible future is in store for this class.

“I have had several people ask me when the class was being offered, my goal is to get as many people psyched about this project. I have spent so much time and energy into this, I want to see it get stronger, gain momentum,” Glassberg said, her hand clenches to a fist.

Diversity of Majors

Out of the ten students whom have participated in this independent study, seven different majors are represented, sociology, philosophy/religion, biology, history, business administration, and international business.

“Andrew is studying the effects of tapping trees, so he is working on his own individual project. He’s a biology major, so every time we collect the sap we measure how much in inches, so that in the end we can conclude you know certain trees, measure how much sap we got throughout the season, add it all up. Then we can start analyzing whether or not the circumference or location of the tree will make a difference in how much sap the tree is going to make. So that in future years we can decide on trees that will produce the most sap for us,” said Anna Halperin, a senior music education major at IC.

Sugar Shack

So what the boys, Shapiro, O’neil, and Tonks set out to accomplish, and what most maple syrup people have is what is called a sugar shack. This is a building that, depending on the producer, how much money they have and what they care about, it could be a nice place, or just look like a shack, it doesn’t even need four walls.

A sugar shack is a building with a roof, but having walls would allow the wind to be blocked, which would make producing maple syrup easier, especially cause you could do it in the rain, or the snow, and its warm.

“I mean when you’re sitting out there for twelve hours it’s pretty cold in Ithaca weather, you would like something to block the wind or retain heat into the building even if it’s not insulated. The benefits of a sugar shack, you could produce all the syrup at one place. For us we had to bring the syrup inside to Jason lab in order to precisely finish it,” Glassberg said.

Community Involvement

“The more people we have, we could produce a lot of syrup and we could sell it in the community. Personally when I got into this I wrote a marketing plan to be able to sell in various stores outside the people we know, and outside of Ithaca College Campus. But the fact is you need to produce X amount of bottles that you could give to a distributor. They’re not going to buy a product if you can only give it to them once,” Glassberg talks of the Ithacan residents.

“I want this project to outlive me, I want it to surpass all my expectations,” said Glassberg, reflecting on her upcoming graduation from Ithaca College. “I want to tell my children about it.”

Underwater Hockey gains momentum in Ithaca, NY

UWH in Ithaca
Rachel Stokes

Height of Passion at the Bottom of a Pool

Graduate students attending Cornell University, an associate professor of biology from Ithaca College and a student in his first year of undergraduate study line up at opposite walls of a swimming pool. They are united by their passion for something out of the ordinary.

Their feet, submerged under four feet of water, are encased in rubber fins. The group wears ear protecting caps, a mask and a snorkel on their heads. Each person’s dominant hand grasps a foot-long wooden stick while protected by a waterproofed gardening glove.

“Sticks up…GO!” echoes through the pool as the noise bounces off the tiled walls. On this command each person pushes off the wall and sprints towards the center of the pool. As the distance between the two groups diminishes, the players quickly dive down to the bottom where the three-pound puck waits.

With this, the game of underwater hockey begins. The play continues until a player triumphs and the puck slides along the bottom tiles into the goal.

At first, the idea of a game of hockey played at the bottom of a pool seems absurd, and seeing it played for the first time is similar to watching sharks feeding. Since the action takes place underwater, not much can be seen from the pool deck. The water churns, fins slap the surface and water blasts from snorkels. The pack of eight to 12 players moves quickly, travelling from one end of the pool to the other and back in seconds. After several minutes of this frenzy, the players finally stand up, remove the snorkels from their mouths and congratulate each other on the play.

“Wow that was a good one!” says veteran player and graduate student Enrico.

“How did you like playing defense against Maki and Enrico?” Willie asks his teammates. His answer comes in the form of “Ugh!” and a few sighs. As everyone in the water giggles the sound bounces off the walls and amplifies, filling the entire area with the sound of laughter.

Playful banter moves back and forth between the players as everyone swims back to their starting positions. After a short break in which the players catch their breath and talk strategy, the familiar cry of “sticks up…go!” is heard again and play continues.

Underwater hockey is a relatively new sport. According to Maki Inada, an assistant professor in biology at Ithaca College and avid underwater hockey player, underwater hockey first came to life in the 1950s. Legend has it that members of the British navy started the first games of underwater hockey while training.

“There were a bunch of people training to be comfortable underwater,” Inada says. “They started playing keep away with one of the diving weights and that’s how the sport got started.”

Underwater hockey boasts popularity in other countries, but lacks a wide fan base in the United States.

“We are getting bigger every year, but we are still virtually unknown. I’ve only met 5 people that actually know the sport once I mention it, and I’ve been playing for 6 years!” says Meghan Pressley Cerveny, who has participated in world competition.

Even for an experienced player like Meghan, underwater hockey has its challenges. “Sometimes you forget you need to breathe,” she says. “But others, it’s so prevalent in your mind that you have to force yourself to forget or just leave the puck where it is, often letting the other team get it instead.”

Learning how to utilize the snorkel properly is one of the hardest aspects of play for a beginner, according to many of the players on the UWH team that practices at Cornell’s Teagle pool.

“I didn’t use the snorkel for the first few weeks,” says Laurie, who has been playing for about a year. “I would just hold my breath and come up for air, but eventually I realized that the snorkel really does make a difference.”

“A lot of the people that we have trained here have found it easier to learn how to play without the snorkel at first,” Inada says.

“The hardest thing is really to believe you can hold your breath,” says Enrico, who is a veteran underwater hockey player. “You don’t really need much training to get it, it’s just mentally you panic because you don’t have air when you’re used to having it regularly for the last 20, 30 years of your life,” he says.

The heavy puck and small stick also presents a challenge for players. According to Inada, stick handling is a frequently practiced aspect. She says that players practice with pucks and sticks on land, as well as in the water. Players strive to move the puck as far as possible, and one way to do that is by perfecting a move referred to as the flick.

“You rotate the puck up on its end,” Inada says. “Basically it gets air and can now fly much further,” she said. Although this technique can bring success, it is very difficult to master.

“I still can’t do the flick!” says Laurie half laughing, half sighing with frustration.

The team laughs with her as she says this, exemplifying the bond that they all share. “The thing that I really love about underwater hockey is that it’s a team sport,” Inada says. “You have to be able to communicate with your teammates and pass [the puck] off to them, and get the passing communication going even underwater.” She says that this aspect is very challenging but also says, “I just find it really fun.”

Drew was welcomed into practices by the team, despite the fact that most players are graduate students and he is a freshman. He says he feels very comfortable with the team.

“I was integrated into the warm-ups and they taught me everything. It was great,” he says of his initial experiences.

“Once I started traveling around the country, and globe, playing UWH, I realized the community of people that play and how we all treat each other like a large family,” says Cerveny. “Whether I play at UMASS Lowell, San Jose, California, Denver, Colorado, or West Palm Beach Florida, I know most of the players and we make sure to go to dinner after practice and catch up on our lives.”

The members of the team at Cornell all say that they are eager to bring new people into the sport. “We are recruiting the whole time, so anytime you feel like trying out the sport you’re welcome here!” Enrico says. “You won’t drown, so you should give it a try,” Willie adds with a smile.

I was intrigued and curious after speaking with the team and watching them practice. I wanted to be involved; I wanted to see how the game works from the players’ perspective and experience the thrill everyone described. I was recruited.

My first practice with the team was extremely intimidating, but thrilling. Everyone was eager to teach me, so that I could get into the play immediately. Even though I was clumsy and couldn’t get the hang of breathing through the snorkel, no one acted as though they were being inconvenienced by my struggles.

Despite the lack of air, the weight of the puck and the confusion under the water, I am hooked. I was disappointed when practice came to an end, and even more so when I realized that I won’t be able to try again until the fall. Underwater hockey is exhilarating and exciting, challenging and comical. I now understand the passion that unites this unusual team.