From Syrup To Sisterhood

It’s not easy being a grad student at Harvard. While members of the College stress over cold breakfasts and the prospect of living in Mather, their comrades over at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are paying rent, planning careers, and enduring a workload that makes Life Sci 1b look like a walk in the park. All of this means that opportunities for fun—and for community—are few and far between.

Not so for the Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (HGWISE), who spent last Saturday afternoon on a guided tour of the Matfield Maple Farm. More than 20 students made the journey down to West Bridgeport, Mass. to see how maple sap is extracted from trees and then made into syrup.

HGWISE organizes monthly events, ranging from the  serious—speeches on work-life balance, for instance—to the social. “We are trying to have fun, trying to build a community that women can go to when they need suggestions or advice,” said Shan Lou, organizer of the event.

“HGWISE likes to give us the opportunity to meet other people who are in similar situations to us,” said Primrose J. Boynton. The scientists seemed to enjoy the chance to discuss their common experiences and interests, from fungi to telescopes to the gender question.

The maple farm itself was a model of sustainability, and its owner Richard Forbes a man on a mission as he illuminated the secrets behind the syrup. Followed closely by the women of Harvard science, Forbes explained the intricate assembly of taps and tubes that drain the sweet sap from the trees. Back in the rustic wooden shed that doubled as a gift shop, he demonstrated the hydraulic system that slowly boils 40 gallons of sap down to one gallon of delicious maple syrup.

Gazing with pride over the expanse of his farm and the llamas that roamed there, Forbes explained that his tours were helping to show the world another way of thinking about open spaces. “We get people from all over the world,” he said. ”We send syrup all over the world too—even to Mozambique!”

The HGWISE crowd left pleased to have swapped stories, tapped into their inner farm girls, and, of course, bought inordinate quantites of maple syrup. Although its focus is on support for women in science, HGWISE’s events are notably open to anyone in the Harvard community. Except maybe Larry Summers.