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. Although it was optional, 44 out of the 46 students attended the slaughtering of a pig here on campus. It was a very difficult and unique experience, but it was a good and important one none the less. We have been learning about the food industry in the United States this past week, by watching Food Inc and talking about the importance of eating organic and local, so seeing how that is actually done was incredibly important. From this experience, it was a lot easier to comprehend how important eating local really is. From the farm to the kitchen, the pig traveled a quarter mile at most, as opposed to the hundreds to thousands of miles the average grocery store in the United States ships their food from. This not only reduced the carbon footprint off of pork, but it also provides a fresher, fresher meal. Furthermore, the treatment of the pig, from its healthy and happy life, to the way it was it was killed, was nothing but respectful and genuine; eating good food and receiving plenty of attention, the pig lead a healthy life. The duration of Wednesday consisted of classes before, and after lunch. Wednesday was also the day we turned in the photos of our ephemeral art piece (art that is intended to be temporary) that each one of us created. It was a very exciting time, because we all got to know more about each other and what is important to one another, through our artwork.

Because students didn’t get a chance to sleep in Wednesday, we had that opportunity Thursday. The majority of the students slept in, while a couple went on an optional run. I like to think of Thursday as our big research day. Instead of classes, advisory time, community outreach, or exploration time, from 1:15 to 5:45 every Thursday, we have research! Thursdays almost always consist of days in the field, which is far more exciting than sitting in a classroom if you ask me. Since I am on the Lionfish Research team, Thursday afternoon consisted of our very first official survey of a patch reef. We got all of our Scuba gear together and headed out to site 70. Chapin Atwood, my good friend and scuba buddy, and I saw 15 lionfish! It was incredibly exciting, and got me inspired for the rest of the project. And now, it’s crazy that another week is almost over already. Time fly’s when you’re having fun!