Monthly Archives: April 2012

Cape Eleuthera Institute, research

Bonefish Flats Group Research Update

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A couple weeks ago the Bonefish Flats group took a trip to Page Creek in order to gather information about the habitat that Bonefish live in.

The flat that we went to was surrounded by the ocean and land.  In the beginning of it the depth ranged from 0-3 feet, deeper into the flat it was only a foot deep.  Some fish populations included yellowtail snapper, schoolmaster fish.  There were also red mangroves all over.  Flats are generally shallow areas.  They are an abundance of mangroves and small fish that use the mangroves for protection.  Present in the mangroves are species such as small fish, echinoderms, Cassiopeia, etc.  In the flat that we went to the water varied from 0-3 feet.  The beginning of the flat was deepest, and then it got shallower.  In the flat we found yellow tail snapper, schoolmaster fish, blue crabs, etc.  There was sand and turtle grass on the floor.  When we went there it was low tide and the sun was high in the sky.  This caused for the water to be much warmer than if the sun was not out and it was high tide because the more water there is the more energy it takes to heat it up.  It was important for us to take a trip to the flat and observe it because this is the habitat for Bonefish.

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We went into the flats to have hands on experience with our studies. We went into the field to collect, observe, and tag Bonefish to have a better idea of where we should take out studies. Continue reading →

Cape Eleuthera Institute, Events, News

Hallig House Grand Opening!

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The Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) welcomed government officials, Bahamian dignitaries and esteemed guests to the grand opening of its Hallig House. The event was celebrated within the context of the One Eleuthera Foundation’s Earth Day Weekend, as a symbol of how community partnerships with shared vision can support a future of sustainable development in The Bahamas.

Chris Maxey, co-founder of the Cape Eleuthera Island School, encouraged event guests to envision the impact of innovative green design technologies: “Imagine building systems that are a net exporter of energy and water, that use the sun to heat water and to cool living spaces, that process waste in a responsible way that helps restore ecosystems and beautify the seascape.”

Hallig House was designed as an educational model for island nations. Led by Warren Wagner of W3 Architects and designed by a team of conservation systems specialists, the building features innovative elements, which solve specific regional issues. The building’s structure and shape, construction materials, and renewable energy and waste management systems all demonstrate how local and national development can maximize locally available resources while minimizing impact on local environments.

The opening marked the first time that the Cape Eleuthera Island School has been honored by the presence of His Excellency Sir Arthur Foulkes Governor-General to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. He gave the keynote address at the event, seen in the video below.  Continue reading →

Daily Update

Daily Update April 20, 2012

The campus has been a lot quieter with half the students gone. Lunch goes by quickly, and we now start cleaning the dishes even before seconds have been called. While K3 and K4 are camping on beaches or kayaking down the Sound, the remainder of the student body has been continuing with academics. It is a little different then the normal schedule, we have fewer classes but for longer periods of time.

Last night, we also went on a night dive. I was really excited to see the coral reefs at different time of day. My group prepared our tanks, jumped on the Cobia, and then headed to our dive sight. Something thing we were told to for was the coral reef nematocysts. Corals get 90% of their energy from photosynthesis from zooxanthellae (algae) that live inside of it. They get the other 10% from nematocysts or tentacle feeding, which paralyze small fish or invertebrate for them to eat. At night, when they can’t photosynthesize, many get energy from this other method. During the dive I saw some Lionfish, Surgeonfish, a School Master Snapper, and a Squirrel Fish. However, I thought one of the coolest parts of the night was ascending from the dive. As we bobbed there in the dark ocean, we looked up and saw the night sky filled with twinkling stars.

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Yesterday in Human Ecology, the class was broken up into three sections and taken around campus. Continue reading →

Eleutheros

Eleutheros

The Human Ecology, Histories, and Literature Departments have collaborated on a series ongoing personal reflective essays called Eleutheros. Each week students are asked to write a reflective essay that demonstrates their understanding of the themes from their coursework and effectively links these themes to their unique thoughts and experiences.  Enjoy reading these two articulate examples of how our students have deeply and personally engage with essential questions, important to their course of study at The Island School…

Prompt: What does it mean to have roots? How do roots and ancestry affect one’s understanding of self and others? How do they affect sense of belonging to a place?

Will Gold:  What it means to have roots can mean many things but what they all lead up to is today.  Roots are what give today integrity.  Your ancestry, where you’re from and how you came to be where you are today are all part of your roots.  Roots give you the strength to face tomorrow with the same sense of hope that you had for today. They create your worldview and who you are before you even know what hit you.

To some, having roots is to know and understand their family lineage.  Mr. Pinder (the man my group was assigned to interview on Settlement Day) would say,  “Roots are your father, your father’s father and your grandfather’s father and so on for as long as you can remember.”  When we asked how he thought this effected who he was today he said “It doesn’t affect who I am it only affects who you think I am.”  This implies that roots can be a way to stereotype people based on success and that society often judges people differently according to their roots. Is it an honor or prejudice to be standardized by your roots?  I suppose that all depends on where you came from.

In research class we explored the idea of shifting baselines. Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Island School Supports Ride for Hope

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Saturday April 14, 2012 The Cape Eleuthera Island School supported Eleuthera’s annual Ride for Hope, which raises money for cancer caring centers and cancer treatment programs. The Cape Eleuthera Island School has been supporting and donating to the annual bicycle race benefit since the very first race was organized by Stephen Holowesko and Susan Holowesko Larson, long time friends of the school. This year, The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute had their highest participation in history with 23 riders from both organizaions. The group collectively rode more than 1,200 miles for the cause. John Dennis the Principle Managing director at Woodrock and Co., longtime rider and Island School alumi parent (Grace Dennis Su’10), sponsored the jerseys for the entire team. The sleek, professional and fashionable shirts were marked with the iconic Island School mutton snapper, Cape Eleuthera Foundation sea star, Cape Eleuthera Institute conch, and Deep Creek Middle School sand dollar. Though coveted by non-riders, Chris Maxey asserted “You gotta sweat to get the jersey.”

This year also marked another exciting first: it was the very first time that the entire campus has picked up and headed down island to support the even. Forty-eight students and additional faculty spent the day organizing, moving bikes, marking down participants as they crossed the finish line, and of course, cheering! One Island School student, Peter Graham, biked alongside his Potcake Cycling Club and finished with 50 miles under his tires.

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Enjoy the following reflection from the perspective of a student supporter and Ride for Hope volunteer Dana Colihan: Everyone thought that waking up at 6:15 for morning exercise was bad, until we had to wake up at 4:45 on Saturday morning. After a quick granola breakfast everyone hopped in the bus and we were on our way to Governor’s Harbor. We were going to support Ride For Hope, an annual bike ride for cancer awareness. Continue reading →

Daily Update

Daily Update by Dana April 16, 2012

After only one week of posts from Mac (who is now out on Kayak expedition!) we will be hearing from a new blogger for the next ten day cycle. Welcome Dana Colihan as she voices the Island School student experience to you, until Mac returns for another round.

Dana: After the Ride for Hope on Saturday, we got back to campus and for a night activity went to the inner loop for a game of capture-the-flag. It was pretty intense. Odd numbers in the circle were black, even numbers white. (The black team is better). I spent most of the time in the woods. I had some good bonding time with nature and the dirt. Everyone had a really fun time, but was pretty tired by the end of the day.

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This weekend we also found out what our kayak rotation lists were. Everyone had been pestering the faculty for the past week, but they hadn’t let anything slip. Continue reading →

Daily Update, Uncategorized

Daily Updates by Mac McDonald

Starting with his Run-Swim run down Monday, for the last week, Mac McDonald has been our new blogger. Enjoy his insights into a new weekly ritual: Water Polo Wednesday. Also, Friday was an extra long morning exercise so our apologies for only three updates this week. Look for more Monday as we mark the transition into the Kayak Rotations period of the semester journey.

Mac: The past few days have been busy on campus. Last night our Eleutheros was due. This week’s Eleutheros included the challenging combination of Literature and Human Ecology classes. The prompts, crafted by each individual classes, included asking about what it meant to be married to one’s hart, a question of awareness, and to talk about the affect of undustry vs. nature. Due on Friday, is our Oral Video Project for Histories, which is the videos we took from our Settlement Days. Included in this Histories project is a reflective essay. In this essay, we are to talk about our own bias, perspectives, and positionality while interviewing our own settlement day families. This will be a challenging and reflective piece to write considering the many varying experiences each settlement group had.

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Yesterday was weekly Water Polo Wednesday. Every Wednesday during Exploration time, we have a water polo game. Continue reading →