The following blog entry was written by Clayton and Hope for Monday, July 18th. 

“It’s where you go and what you do that makes you who you are.”

This morning started with a extremely intense student-led physco, which was conduct by Clayton and Kate. We paired up with a buddy and were forced to push one another through an intense piggyback relay, daunting sand hill sprints and intimidating rock lifts. Giving it our all we sprinted through The Island School campus and side-by-side with our buddies, every student touched the flagpole finish. Everyone was energized by the twist to the morning and eagerly, we split up for chores. After completing a variety of campus chores and rushing to take navy showers, we met up at the dining hall for breakfast. Students were excited to see a tall mountain of pancakes waiting for them. The morning Human Ecology class was dedicated to spending time planning and starting the projects which we recently created. The presentation room became a place of new ideas and hopes for ways in which we are going to improve our home here at the Island School and Cape Eleuthera. Each group chose a topic based on something they feel needs to more sustainable or simply a problem that needs a solution. The work ahead of us will push our creative thinking and allow us to find ways to use the resources in our area.  Some groups plan to use the invasive species, Casuarina trees, while others are going to use recycled bottles or old tires found in resources. This afternoon each research group spent time discussing the results as well as developing an outline for the final poster. We began making graphs, determining if our data was significant, and tweaking our previously written intros. After a long academic and physical day, many of the kids decided to explore the inner loop, by running or biking, rather than indulge themselves at the marina store.  Finally at dinner circle, we were joined by our research advisors who briefed us on our adventurous day tomorrow. We were also joined by the new faces of the South Eleuthera Kids Camp.  The night concluded as mentors and students alike congregated in John and David’s apartment, where we took turns giving kudos to one another on the progress we have made this term.