by Caciques Connor and Charlie

Thanksgiving at Island School is different than a Thanksgiving nearly anywhere else. While we know that our friends and family back home are playing backyard football, sipping apple cider, eating turkey, or watching the Lions’ game, we have spent the day swimming and running in preparation for our super-swim and half-marathon this weekend, making positive changes to the Island School community with work done in our Human Ecology final projects, and seeing manta rays while SCUBA-diving to a wreck of an airplane near the Exuma Sound Wall. However, the Thanksgiving spirit was honored during dinnertime when our community came together to enjoy a delicious meal of pork, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pie, and other traditional dishes. It was very exciting to have Teschna (the Marine Ecology Fellow from New Zealand) join us in her first Thanksgiving ever as well. When we were writing our pass-offs to the new caciques, we wanted to do something special for thanksgiving. Volunteers from girls dorm gratefully decorated the dining hall, and we came up with the idea for everyone to say something they were thankful for during dinner circle. So when dinner circle came, we stood around the flagpole and said what we were thankful for; a common theme among the answers made it clear that we are very thankful to be here.