Yearly Archives: 2011

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Small Feet – Human Ecology Measured

by Anne, Adam, Annie, and Nick

The Island School prides itself on being an environmentally conscious institution; yet how kind is the school to the earth? Yes, we make our own biodiesel and compost, have solar panels and a wind turbine, we even pump our sewage into manure for bananas, but what is our carbon footprint? Up until this point in time, the actual carbon footprint of the school had not been calculated and this human ecology group set out to do just that. Carbon outputs, as many of you know, pollute the atmosphere and play a large role in climate change. Though poorer nations like The Bahamas do not have the largest impact on the global carbon footprint, islands like Eleuthera are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. We felt it was our responsibility to understand our carbon impact on the world so that we could make steps towards living more within the school’s pillar of “sustainability.” Continue reading →

Cacique Update

Cacique Update June 4, 2011

by Caciques Brontë and Jack

Saturday was a day full of exciting events. The final research symposium was held on campus, transition classes were held, themed dinners and conch fest was celebrated.

The research symposium was a rewarding experience considering the fact that alumni, research specialists, and government officials traveled to hear about the research we conducted during the semester.  We were excited to be high school students whose work and discoveries were not only valued by our teachers and The Island School, but would also become useful to the scientific community. Continue reading →

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Legs to Lights – The Power of Human Ecology

by Jon Vredenburg

The purpose of our project was to raise awareness about energy consumption. At The Island School, we have spent many community meetings talking about water conservation. Yet not as much concern is shared with electricity conservation. 80% of our power comes from our solar panels and wind turbine, which is great, but that means that 20 % of our electricity is still being generated at the diesel power plant in Rock Sound. Continue reading →

Cacique Update

Cacique Update May 3, 2011

by Caciques Aldis and Eliza

[slideshow]

Friday nights often see our community dressing in their best for dinner to celebrate the coming weekend. Yesterday was no exception, yet on June 3rd Dorm Mom and Dad decided to draw on our children’s extensive creativity. Each state or country chose a theme that they were drawn to: Michigander Lax Bros, Massachusetts Mariners, Jersey Shore “guidos,” Mainers came out of The Wild, Fairfield County Connecticut preps, North and South Carolina “hicks,” Texas cowboys, West coast hipsters, and Florida sweats. While we would love to describe the costumes in detail, we feel that the pictures speak for themselves. Please enjoy them…  Continue reading →

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Remembering why…

As you all know, students are greeted with quite a demanding schedule upon arrival.  Still, we stress the importance of finding time and space to reflect on their experience, to re-tell a story, re-imagine a reality and re-construct an unsustainable system.  Well, believe it or not, the staff has an equally formidable schedule awaiting them.  So, in all fairness, I feel inclined to do the same, to allow for a paradox of regression, a moment to step back.  As of late, my mind and heart remains afloat over the question ‘why’- why is this place needed.  Well folks, simply put, the answer lies in the need for reevaluating education.

Continue reading →

Cacique Update

Cacique Update May 2, 2011

by Caciques JP Ferro and Mia Thomas

With our Human Ecology presentations taking place today, every student took part in a group whose purpose was to change issues around Eleuthera. JP  and his group members (Jack, James, True, and Nathan) took part in a Lionfish project called, “Licensed to Lionfish”. Lionfish are invasive species that are taking over the Atlantic; they originate from the Indo-Pacific and they have no predators in the Atlantic. In this project, the group started creating a market for lionfish by connecting local fisherman with restaurants in order to help control lionfish

Continue reading →

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The Last Tingum

by Emma - The Blog Chore Master

The days are slowly counting down here at the Island School.  Students are starting to complete their “lasts”—we are on our last chore rotation, we finished our last classes, we did our last day of run track and swim track, we completed the last infamous run-swims, and our last weekend is coming up.  It sets up an interesting phenomenon for the students because we are both excited by our accomplishments and proud of the challenges we have now completely overcome, but it means more and more of the things we once looked forward to are now in the past.  For example, I have never liked the sciences.  When I found out the Research Blocks here range from 3 to 5 hours, I thought I would be miserable and never get through them.  Every time I walked over the bridge to CEI to attend Aquaculture, I celebrated that one more lab period was done.  However in recent weeks, I have been dreading the end of Aquaculture.  Not only have I finally passionate about something in the sciences, Continue reading →

Cacique Update

Cacique Update May 1, 2011

by Caciques Aidan and Lizzie

We are all beginning to realize that at this time next week we will be on a plane home. So many memories, experiences, and friendships have been made in the past few months it is crazy to think that in one week we will be saying goodbye to each other. It seems like only a few days ago that we were doing our first run-swim, getting assigned our first chores, and writing our first I-Search paper. Continue reading →

Cacique Update

Cacique Update May 31, 2011

by Caciques Adam and Caroline

Watch as “sharks” Justin Symington and Lucky go in for their underwater attack during the water polo challenge during Pirate Morning Exercise.

ARRRRRRRRRRRR pirates!!! Today, we started off the morning with a pirate workout.  You may be wondering what a pirate workout is, and to be honest, we were all wondering the same thing when we started our count off at exactly 6:30, like we do every morning.   However, this day was not like any other morning, when suddenly all the faculty raided the circle dressed in pirate uniform and yelling pirate lingo.  Continue reading →

Cacique Update

Cacique Update May 30, 2011

by Caciques Emma and J-wow (Jessica)

Today was a day of completion and celebration.  This morning was the last day of swim or run track.  Swim track did a final timed swim assessment around Triangle Cut to see how they have improved since the beginning of the semester.  All swimmers successfully beat their original time, and most even improved their times from mid-semester.  Run track did yoga to stretch and recover from the half marathon they completed the day before.  Then, we had our last Literature of the Sea class and Histories of The Bahamas class.  It is a bittersweet feeling Continue reading →