Monthly Archives: March 2012

Alumni

Prince Harry’s Visit to The Bahamas!

Prince Harry, during his recent visit to The Bahamas in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, held a Youth Leaders Luncheon for a select group of outstanding students chosen for their exceptional leadership skills. Those in attendance represented several organizations throughout The Bahamas including three Island School alumni and one DCMS student were present at the luncheon. IS alumnae and BESS scholars Alannah Vellacot (F’08) and Truranda Cox (S’11), IS alumna Aly Boyce (F’10), and DCMS student Moesha Leary were among the lucky few to meet Prince Harry last week. They had the opportunity to discuss environmental initiatives with the Prince and had a great time!

[slideshow]

Here is a detailed account from Alannah of her experience at the Youth Leaders Luncheon:

“Along with his buzzing entourage of assistants and photographers, Prince Harry made his way around the room, visiting each table that represented various clubs and organizations, shook hands with each member and had a short but sweet conversation. Finally he approached our table, Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Donnavventura at Cape Eleuthera

This fall, two world travelers from Italy from an Italian program called Donnavventura made their way to our home on Cape Eleuthera. During their tour of The Bahamas, they came to The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute to highlight our environmental conservation program. Their time with us culminated in this video. It has great footage of the campuses, as well as students, faculty and researchers. It is important to warn you, however, that not only is the clip spoken all in Italian, but also that Donnavventura was on campus on Pirate Day, a great, yet unconventional Island School morning exercise tradition. So please don’t be alarmed by the fireworks featured at the end of the video…enjoy!

Daily Update

Daily Update March 15, 2012

Yesterday, Wednesday Island School students joined Chris Maxey for a free dive even on their sleep-in.  Before the sunrise and in the rain, the divers rode their bikes to Hammerhead Hole, where they stopped to do yoga.  As the sun rose, Maxey led us in the tree pose, where one stands on one foot and sways in the wind.  The relaxing yoga helped us all with our breathing so that we could be more successful at holding our breath.  After a surprising amount of ‘yoga push-ups’, we stepped into the water.  Hammerhead Hole is special because it is about forty feet deep, but only 15 feet off of shore.  In free-diving, one joins with a buddy, and one buddy at a time will hold his breath while he calmly and steadily kicks his way to the bottom.  A few students made their way to the deepest point of the hole.  However, heads turned when Maxey free dove to the bottom, took his fins off, grabbed a rock, and ran along the bottom before coming up for air.  After a good sample of free diving, we biked back to campus to start the day.

After breakfast, we began our third day of classes.  Continue reading →

Daily Update

Daily Update March 13, 2012

2 Comments

Today is almost another first day of classes.  Yesterday, after half of the students completing their first timed Run/Swim, we began Math and Human Ecology classes.  However, today will be the start of a whole new set of classes including Histories, Literature, and our first research classes!  The students are very excited to divide into the groups that they selected to work on and to begin their learning.  Continue reading →

Deep Creek Middle School

DCMS Students Present at Green Conference in Denver

[slideshow]

On February 26th, three students from Deep Creek Middle School departed for Denver, Colorado to attend the National Green Schools Conference where they had been invited to present their work to students from all over the United States. Eighth graders Keniesha Pinder (Tarpum Bay), Shanice Symonette (Rock Sound) and seventh grader Zachary Carey (Tarpum Bay) delivered poster presentations on “How to Create a Recycling System at your School” and “Middle School Aquaponics.” The audience was students and teachers who were interested in creating sustainable changes in their communities. “People were really excited about our ideas, a lot of people said they wanted to try aquaponics at their schools”, explains Shanice.

DCMS students also had the opportunity to attend workshops given by student and professionals that pertained to environmental topics that interested them. “I’ve learned all kinds of things that I want to do at DCMS and in my own settlement” says Zachary Carey of Tarpum Bay. Some of the more impressive workshops had students dreaming up ideas to use to improve their school and island. Some of these ideas include: developing Continue reading →

Daily Update

Daily Update March 12, 2012

1 Comment

Today, the Island School Community awaits the beginning of classes.  Both faculty and students wait to see how they can work together to learn.  Over the weekend, we jumped into the semester from High Rock and held a Commencement from Orientation ceremony, where we all pledged to work form a dynamic and tightly knit community.  On Sunday, the students, and faculty, enjoyed their first day off.  Adventures ranged from snorkeling and diving, to exploring, to enjoying the coffee shop, and getting rest on the beach.  This morning, we will enjoy our first timed Run/Swim, as well as our first Math and Human Ecology classes.  The anticipation is strong, but the community is excited for their more regular schedule.  Though the first day is classes is normally a thing of dread, the community is eager and happy to begin their academic journey.

[slideshow]

Daily Update, Uncategorized

Daily Updates from Eric Witte

3 Comments
Eric Witte in Action!

Now that the semester course has transitioned out of the orientation period, we begin a more rhythmic academic schedule. For the rest of the semester, look for Daily Updates about the Island School experience. Every two weeks a different student will be in charge of Daily Updates and he or she will use chore time to write and publish these. Look for updates all “chore days” including Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. For the next two weeks, student Eric Witte will be giving you his personal, thoughtful, detailed descriptions of the Island School Journey. First, enjoy a thoughtful reflection he wrote last week about his shifting perspective. Later today, look for his very first Daily Update…

Erik Witte: Arriving at the Island School has pushed me to make a lot of changes in my habits.  Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Sustainability in Exile

Island School Marine Ecology teacher, Peter Zdrojewski, has been spreading the news of his friend and grad school advisor – Dr. Jonathan Scherch – who has recently put together a documentary “Sustainability in Exile.” The documentary is focused on his work with Tibetan refugees and their movement away from monoculture, corporate cash cropping and back to sustainable agriculture/permaculture. You can check out a preview of the movie here.

The film is part of the iPic Redmond Film Festival, focused on earth preservation, so if you enjoy the clip and would like to vote for it, please go to  http://www.facebook.com/IPicRedmond?sk=app_175392659238041

Jonathan’s work has been inspiring and provides a much needed collaboration with an already distressed community. Hope you enjoy!

Uncategorized

More from Week Two

1 Comment

By: Natalie, Annie, Tai, Kyle T, Lucy, Ann-Marie, Sterling, Greg: It may seem rough to leave behind cell-phones, telephone, and Internet, but we have happily replaced these “tings” with place-based learning. This week in math class, we took a boat out to the sand bar to examine the ooids that make up the island’s foundation. Scientists flock from all over the world to study these geological wonders of theBahamas. We also calculated the distance to the horizon from our location. Yesterday we took our first breaths under-water for SCUBA certification, which is part of our Marine Ecology class. We will use this still to learn about the different ecosystems that surround us. We’re excited to start our research projects this week, which range from mangroves to lemon sharks. Best of all, on Friday night we made new friends around a bonfire rather than on Facebook. Now how many high school students can say all of that?

Kyle Forness: Today as I sat under the gazebo free-writing with Felix I thought of how well the gazebo represented The Island School and its ideals. Starting from the top down, the thatched roof made of dried indigenous leaves stood for how The Island School is conscious and tries to incorporate the culture of The Bahamas into our schooling as well as a sheltered safe place for us to grow and learn. Continue reading →