This year on March 8-9, Bendix Woods Park held their annual event known as Sugar Camp Days! The event observes the season where sap is collected from maple trees when the temperatures are below freezing at night, and above freezing during the day. This year’s maple sugaring season was relatively short due to the weather, but that did not stop families from coming out to enjoy the event!
Students who volunteered at the event made multiple maple sugar based baked goods, spun maple cotton candy, cooked maple popcorn, dipped candles, and h
elped the park educate the public on the process of turning the sap from the maple trees into maple sugar just as the early European pioneers did. Students had a fun and rewarding experience engaging with the public despite some of the sticky situations they found themselves in, like working with the cotton candy machine!
Most of the students who volunteered did so as a part of the Honors Program in a class titled “Humans and the Environment” taught by Dr. Monica Tetzlaff. When asked why she included service learning in her course, she responded, “I created service-learning assignments in my class on Humans and the Environment because there is much to grieve and be angry about once you learn how many plants, animals, forests, and wetlands we have lost and how polluted our environment is in 2025.”
Bendix Woods’ “Sugar Camp Days” is 
not the only nature-based activity students volunteered at this semester. The annual Ag Days this year took place April 4-6th at St. Joseph County Fairgrounds, not long after Sugar Camp Days. This event educates the public on agriculture and includes things like simulated maple tapping, games and activities, farm animals, and food.
Students helped at the stations, primarily the maple tapping station where they stood behind a fake maple tree and helped simulate sap flow for children. Student Mamoona Shakil said “I feel like I made a real impact, particularly on the younger kids, who had so much fun with the activity that many of them asked to try the real thing. A number of parents also requested more information about next year’s maple tapping event at Bendix Woods.”
Students who volunteered at these events felt a sense of personal satisfaction and stated that engaging with the community enhanced their learning. If given the chance, several of them would do it again! “Because I bring over 30 students a semester to Bendix Woods, I definitely feel like I make an impact. My hope is that the students will remember that they can come back to county and city parks for a low cost and that volunteering is not that difficult.” Dr. Tetzlaff said. “It is my hope that students gain confidence as they work their way through any difficulties they encounter. They deserve to feel proud that they worked hard at Bendix Woods, and they made it possible for many children to have a positive learning experience in nature.”
For More Information on the Honors Program: Honors Program: Academic Affairs: Indiana University South Bend
For More Information on Bendix Woods: Bendix Woods | St. Joseph County, IN
For More Information on Ag Days: St. Joe County Ag Days | stjosephswcd
I applaud Dr. Tetzlaff for getting her students outside the classroom to learn and serve in the community and to observe, firsthand, the bounty of nature that they are learning about in the course.