by Caciques William and Katie H.

William: Waking up yesterday morning, the only thing on my mind was Morning Exercise. This was the day of our second timed Run/Swim. I thought of countless ways that I could improve my time from the previous Run/Swim. Listening to other students around me I could see that this was everyone’s goal, to do better. I feel that my time here at The Island School has nurtured within me the spirit of self-improvement and that between each student a motivation to cheer each other on. The inspiration to do better seemingly was the theme of the day. Everyone wanted to improve their time or to perform at an optimum level while doing the various morning chores. Yesterday was also the day when each student met their teachers to receive feedback on their general performance so far within the semester. I could see that each student was compelled to do better. I know that after our time here each student will be forever grateful for the time spent here at The Island School.

Katie H.:  The motivation to improve on the run-swim quickly transferred over to the classroom. After lunch we met with our teachers for our mid-semester meeting to talk about how we’re individually doing. Each teacher had something different to say, but the majority of the talked about our strengths and weaknesses. Some even touched on certain moments in the classroom when we did something impressive. We spent ten minutes with each teacher and talked about how we feel about the classroom environment, their way of teaching, and the curriculum. Being able to sit and have a casual conversation with a teacher without the nerves or reprimanding was a reminder of much they truly care about us performing our bests. Whether we’re being told to never quit during a run-swim or having a teacher tell us what we could change in a paper, the motivation to perform to the best of our ability continues throughout our day-to-day routine.