If evolution is a transformative process, then who’s to say we aren’t evolving everyday?

As our third week here at CEI comes to a close, all of the gap year interns are beginning to naturally expand into our own place here. We all have developed and begun to find our place in the community at the Cape Eleuthera Institute; some of these changes we discover together, and some we can only find on our own.

This week we all brainstormed on ideas for our Independent Student Project, or ISP, which is the research or outreach project that we want to dedicate our time here to. Gap interns Sarah and Lulu are joining the Shark Team, I am joining the Lionfish team, Shaquel is focusing on gathering data on local knowledge of CEI projects, and Jon and Cole are developing an independent project studying filter feeders. The unfolding of each of our interests is becoming more apparent!

As we make these decisions, we are having plenty of fun in the meantime. SCUBA! This week we are working on Advanced Open Water Scuba, which involves a boat dive, deep dive, night dive, naturalist dive, and navigation dive. Here’s a drawing I did of the scuba transformation!

We have also welcomed the Warners from the Field School in Washington D.C. to CEI this week! Jordan, Alexandra, and Madison are here for a winter internship opportunity that their school offers and we are so happy to have them. They will be joining with research teams and getting to know the CEI and Island School campuses.

So, the gaps have 5 more weeks here at CEI, and I can’t wait to see what they bring!!

Shelby Hinds