September 15 to October 9 PIHS officially had its last harvest break. About a dozen students spent their last harvest break working at the MSAD#1 Educational Farm. Students helped by picking pumpkins, apple picking and making pies. “This job would be for younger kids like ages 13-14 because students that age can’t work on farm equipment until age 16,” Portia Shaw ‘21 said.

“This year we had a problem with too many apples. We were running out of places to put them,” said Shaw.

“Every four years the apple trees take a break and don’t produce as many apples than the other years and they did that last year so this year was much better,” PIRCTC Director Tim Prescott said. “The apple crop was a lot better this year in quality and in volume,” Prescott said.

Some people will miss harvest break and some people won’t because they did not get to work and they didn’t experience the unique work ethic. “We should still have a harvest break each year because some people still work at farms and still have jobs,” said Shaw. “But for the people that don’t work, they should have to go to school.”

Harvest break has been a unique way to learn and adventure rather than going to school. The transition away from having harvest next year will be a big change for everyone.