We recently received a suggestion from a parent of an alum to create a way for alumni parents and parents of current and prospective students to be able to share information and advice.  What a great idea!

So we’ve created The Island School Parents Network page on Facebook.  If you are a parent of an Island School alum or a current student, use this page to collaborate and share advice.  Go ahead and log on to Facebook and like this page…and while you’re on there; you should friend Cacique Maxey too!

With the 15 pounds of fillets that were a result of the first ever Lionfish Reef Cleanup, the Lionfish Team hosted a Lionfish Cook-off at the DCMS 10 Year Anniversary Celebration. With three different dishes cooked up by local chefs we exposed many new people to the deliciously sweet meat of lionfish. Continue reading →

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S3ctiSwSqs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxsgSN3nakU

The aquaculture team isolated this egg from our third brood of the month from the same pair of sharknose gobies.  The two black lumps are the eyes, and the dark spot is the yolk sac.  With a little agitation, we watched a goby hatch under a microscope in the CEI lab for the first time.

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In 2002, Island School students pioneered a program for their research project creating biodiesel out of waste cooking oil.  Since then, our on campus plant has grown to not only feed our campus vehicles with biodiesel, but has become a model for The Bahamas.  On Monday, Bahamas Waste opened up its own biodiesel facility, which will convert up to one million gallon of waste cooking oil to biodiesel each year.  Geoff Walton, Jack Kenworthy, and Graham Siener of Cape Systems, a for-profit subsidiary of the Cape Eleuthera Island School, served as consultants during the planning and implementation of the plant.  At the ribbon cutting ceremony Peter Andrews, chairman of Bahamas Waste, handed over a check for $0.25 to Chris Maxey, Bahamas Environmental Steward Scholar Garneisha Pinder and Deep Creek Middle School student Moesha Leary.  This check serves as a promise that for every gallon of biodiesel produced, Bahamas Waste will donate 25 cents toward the BESS program and scholarships at DCMS.

Congratulations and THANK YOU to Bahamas Waste!

This past weekend Kalin Griffin, Cape Eleuthera Institute’s Human Resources Manager, and Cape Eleuthera Foundation board member Stephen Holowesko had the pleasure of greeting education reformer Geoffrey Canada at a US Embassy event in Nassau.  Canada, who has been recognized by President Obama for his work in education reform, met with Bahamian leaders to shared insights from his work on closing the achievement gap in Harlem, New York through his organization Harlem Children’s Zone.   The Island School and CEI have a strong relationship with Harlem Children Zone’s Promise Academy; for the past several summers, students from HCZ Promise Academy have visited our campus for educational programming.  We are looking forward to continuing this relationship and hope that Mr. Canada will be able to make it to Cape Eleuthera to visit soon.

To read more about Geoffrey Canada’s visit to Nassau, you can find the US Embassy’s press release here.

With hundreds of ripe red fruits decorating the jujube trees and the orchard floor below, the Permaculture team has embarked on a mission to produce a year’s supply of jujube jam for The Island School kitchen. Making the jam in such large quantities involves a daylong invasion of the kitchen, which Tiff, Mooch, Sheryl and Rebecca just love! They do seem amused by the vast quantities of jujubes we haul in throughout the week, and offer helpful tips to perfect our jam-making skills.

So as we are sure is the case with most of you, you likely have jujubes lying around your house that you just don’t have a clue what to do with. Well, worry no more! Here you can find a recipe with pictures breaking down just how to make your very own jujube jam, also known as Jujube Butter. With the autumnal flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, the jam closely resembles apple butter and acts as a wonderful addition to breakfast in the morning. Continue reading →

Island School was pleased to welcome several new faculty members over the past week.  Read faculty bios here and make sure to visit the blog regularly to catch new episodes of “Meet the Faculty/Staff,” which is scheduled to premiere next week.