In 1975, PROJECTS, Inc. started a maple sugaring operation geared at supplementing the classroom learning of Camden, Maine high school students. “We sensed that, especially for senior students in their final year of high school, there was a need to balance classroom learning with out of classroom experience,” recalled Perry Gates of PROJECTS.

After first raising money from private contributors, and receiving approval from the local Principal and Superintendent, PROJECTS met with teachers at Camden Rockport High School to discuss how to integrate the academic portion of the program. The teachers decided that the most relevant areas of academic overlap were English and History. In order to satisfy the English component, students were to keep and present a journal of their experience. To satisfy the History component, students were required to study the agriculture and history of maple sugaring.

The first year (1975), approximately ten students (self-selecting, and mostly seniors) joined the spring program. During the second year (1976), students from two private schools – the Putney school in Vermont, and the Pingree School in Massachusetts – spent their spring semesters in Camden studying and harvesting syrup. One student from the Pingree School enjoyed her experience so much that she returned to Camden that summer to supervise the construction of a new sugarhouse for the program.

In 1982, Camden High School’s maple sugaring program was integrated into PROJECTS Community Service Corp. As a reward for 150 hours of volunteer service, Community Service Corp members were allowed to join the maple sugaring operation in the spring. The program lasted up through 1995, when the Community Service Corps became an independent organization, renaming itself “Community Service Projects, Inc.” (what is named “YouthLinks” today).

As the operation grew, students began selling the syrup to the local community – first through deliveries, and then out of the back of pickup trucks next to fish salesmen in Cod Cove, Rockland (records indicate that one year the students even turned a profit: $244.60). Sensing a market for high quality Maine maple syrup, Perry Gates decided to turn the small operation into a much larger for-profit business. Many years later, what began as a small maple sugaring operation for students now lives on as the award-winning maple syrup company Maine Gold.