Monthly Archives: September 2012

Student Update

Student Update September 28, 2012

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Good morning family and friends of the Island School! Due to a special and unique experience that occurred Wednesday morning, chores haven’t been done since Tuesday. Thus, no blog. I left off Tuesday, a day full of classes, meals, and the first research day of the week. Although Tuesdays may be one of the most “average” days of the week here at The Island School, they always seem to be full of excitement because that’s when we’re introduced to the exciting things that we’ll be doing in the latter part of the week. For example, in Human Ecology, we got an introduction to Thursday’s class; cooking a meal made from local foods from a local farmer, that we would prepare and serve for the whole island school community. Tuesdays are also Community Meeting days, where we talk about subject regarding the community. This week we explored and discussed our different leadership styles.

On Wednesday morning, the students and staff got an opportunity that few, especially for most of us, will ever get to experience. Continue reading →

Cape Eleuthera Institute

Dr. Sylvia Earle at BLUE Ocean Film Festival

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CEI Research Assistants, Brendan Talwar and Ian Rossiter created a stop motion film during their time as interns last spring. The video was so impressive and got such great review from everyone on Cape Eleuthera that they decided to enter it in the 2012 BLUE Ocean Film Festival and made it to the finals of the animated category! Last night they had the honor of showing a sneak peek of their video to world-renowned oceanography and friend of The Island School, Dr. Sylvia Earle.

Good luck the rest of the weekend, Brendan and Ian–we’re rooting for you!

Events

Successful Admissions Reception in Needham!

We had close to 60 guests attend the Admissions Reception at the Piersiak’s Home in Needham, Massachusetts last night, including many interested families, prospective students, and of course plenty of alums! Thank you to all who attended–and a very big thank you to the Piersiaks for opening up their beautiful home and hosting such a successful event.

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The next Admissions Reception events are in Texas! We hope to see you there! Continue reading →

Uncategorized

1,000th Blog Post!

Hello friends, family, alumni, scientists and everyone else who has been clicking, reading, commenting and following on this blog. This is our 1,000th blog post! Without you all out there, we’d never have made it this far! THANKS & KEEP ON READING!

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Uncategorized

Underwater Essays

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In a recent Marine Ecology class, students were asked to stay still, underwater, on SCUBA, for half an hour, focusing their observations on one specific area of reef. They then wrote underwater essays on their dive slates, addressing the prompt: Why (or why not) is there so much life on this area of reef. Enjoy these examples: deeply thoughtful analyses written deep under water…

by Chapin Atwood:

I arrived at my patch of coral reef and sank to my knees as I began to watch all the components of this ecosystem react. Watching the fish, busily flipping their tales around pieces of coral reef and sponges, I was amazed at the beauty of this small piece of reef. This reef looked very healthy with life bursting out of it.

After a few moments of enjoying its beauty, I began to study the components of the coral reef in depth. I began by looking at the biotic factors of the reef, such as the different types of sponges and algae and fish species. I noticed large patches of Encrusting sponges as well as the Rope sponges and Tube sponges. All of these species of sponges have a similar niche in the ecosystem, to filter the water and take out nutrients and oxygen from the water. They get their food by filtering the water, which means that they are heterotrophs because they amass organic matter from other sources. I noticed the small holes on each of these sponges, placed in different places for the different species. These holes were the oscula, in which the filtered water came out of. When looking closely at some of the Encrusting sponges, I noticed this layer of green algae that covered the sponge. I wondered what its name was? I also wondered if it has a severe effect on the health of the coral reef? Continue reading →

News

Introducing New Director of Admissions, Sharon Jarboe!

The Island School is pleased to announce that a new director of admission, Sharon Jarboe, has joined the leadership team. Co-founder and former Director of Admission Pam Maxey is excited to pass the torch on to Sharon, who takes on the new role this fall. While Pam remains in New Jersey working with the admission team this year, Sharon’s hire will enable Pam’s transition into a broader role including more development work and more time on-island in Eleuthera.

Sharon joins The Island School having just received her M.Ed in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. Most recently she served as associate director of admission and financial aid at The Pennington School in New Jersey. At Pennington, Sharon spearheaded initiatives using strategic events, travel, and financial aid in order to increase the diversity of the applicant pool and student body at the school. She also designed, launched, and taught two Mandarin language programs there and brings a history of helping students bridge cultural differences by working creatively within an institution.

Sharon joins our team eager to work collegially and help us take the admissions work to the next level. It was apparent during the interview process and her participation in The Island School’s summer Teacher Conference that Sharon shares The Island School’s forward thinking approach to experiential learning and educational philosophy and practices. Sharon remarked with enthusiasm, “I believe that I found my dream job, as I can not imagine a more rewarding opportunity to support young people as they embark on this transformative journey.”

Alumni, Events, News

First Ever Monster Run-Swim!

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This weekend marked the first-ever Monster Run-Swim event at The Island School. The event took place on two courses: the normal Island School run-swim course, a sprint run-swim course with 1.7km of running and 0.5km swimming, and a ‘Monster’ course featuring a 7.4km run and a 1.65km swim. Rooted in a uniquely Island School morning exercise, the run-swim drew alumni and friends of The Island School from the U.S. and Nassau, including Alumni Advisory Board members Meg Bunn (F’01), Nick Del Vecchio (F’02), Kate Parizeau (F’03), and Johann Schdeit (SP’02). Many participants relished opportunity to revisit the course, sometimes for the first time since being a student, while at the same time knowing they were supporting the Deep Creek Middle School.

Despite some difficulty for participants to reach the remote location, the first installment of the Monster Run-Swim was a success. Including some Island School students and staff who participated in the event, 64 individuals tested their ability to truly cross train. Finishing first overall was Scott Aland (SP’05), who completed the long course in just over one hour, and the first woman across the finish line was Island School student Hope Logan (F’12), who finished only a couple minutes behind.

Be sure to join us in the future for the next Monster Run-Swim!