Yearly Archives: 2012

Eleutheros, Uncategorized

Eleutheros

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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: Why is the sea valuable? Discuss different individual and cultural perspectives on the sea. Consider how your life experiences, as well as your learning in Histories, Literature, and Human Eco have impacted how you understand the value of the world’s oceans.

Mac McDonald:

My paddle dug into the muddy waters of the Mekong Delta, as I maneuvered amongst the floating homes. The children waved from the doorway of their school. Their school pitched in the ripples made by our canoes. The plastic jugs and Styrofoam, keeping the structure afloat, grumbled and moaned. Behind them I could see the desks, world maps, and chalkboard. Underneath the homes lay a world of sustainability. Giant nets filled with fish created the possibility of all this happening by creating an income for the village. Observing this world and perceiving how they utilize the sea through transport, income, religion, and as a base for their home, completely changed my thoughts on the ocean. I was able to realize how diverse the value of the sea truly is and in how many ways it can be manipulated for use. Continue reading →

Deep Creek Middle School

DCMS Community Outreach Project on Lionfish

Deep Creek Middle School student, Yanni Giannakopulous (grade 9) is leading both Island School and DCMS students through a project to educate local fishermen and restaurant owners on Eleuthera about the market for Lionfish. At the conclusion of the project, the students plan to hold an educational outreach event at a local restaurant where they bring together suppliers and consumers to learn more about how to cook the fish and create a market for this invasive species.

In order to prepare for this final event, the students heard a presentation by Nicola Smith from The Bahamas Department of Marine Resources. She shared some of the latest research on the species. The students are also learning all about safe handling of the lionfish, since their spine rays are venomous, from lionfish researcher at CEI and alumna, Skylar Miller (S’03), as well as delicious preparation of the fish from Island School sustainable chef and alumnus Emery Long (F’04), shown in the photos below. During this Community Outreach class, the students were being filmed by ZED, a French documentary film company who are currently on campus. ZED specializes in natural history, science and adventure and has been working on an invasive species documentary featuring lionfish and will be shooting lots of underwater footage with the lionfish research team at CEI.

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Daily Update

Daily Update April 2, 2012

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Weekends are some of the best times here – they give us time to relax, bond, get some homework done, and try new things. After a long exercise track, we headed off to a morning of classes, followed by an afternoon in our settlements. I rode in a van over to Tarpum Bay, where I spent the afternoon talking to fisherman, eating conch salad, and spending time with my settlement mother. It was sad to leave from our final settlement Saturday, but I’m so glad I got the chance to go to Tarpum Bay. I’ve learned new things about Bahamian culture, like saying  “Good day” every time I pass anybody in the street, and the history of Eleuthera from the days I spent there.

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Saturday night was our first coffeehouse. Continue reading →

Daily Update

Daily Update March 30, 2012

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Wednesday afternoon was a four-hour research block. Whether you were out diving after sea turtles or towing behind a boat counting
conch, the afternoon was fun and fascinating. My group, deep water sharks, spent the afternoon examining footage from the Medusa, a high-tech machine lent to us exclusively this semester that drops thousands of feet underwater and takes footage of what it sees. At 1800 feet, we caught a few Cuban dogfish sharks on tape, but the real excitement came when a 6-foot long blunt nose six-gill shark crashed into the camera and circled it for investigation! It was amazing to see a creature that most people never get to see in their lives up so close.

Although Wednesdays are our longest workdays, I caught some relaxation this morning during morning exercise. Continue reading →

Alumni, Events

The Maxeys Finally Make it Out West

Pam and Chris made their first trip out to California this week and had the opportunity to reconnect with old friends, as well as meet  some prospective Island School students. Chip and Melanie Vetter (IS Parents of Anne (S’11) and Matt (S’09)) held a gathering at their home in Kentfield, CA. Over 40 prospective students, Island School alumni, faculty alumni, and friends were in attendance! Thank you to all who came out and especially to the Vetters for hosting such a great evening!

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Daily Update

Daily Update March 29, 2012

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A highlight of my week so far was the Marine Eco dive my class did yesterday. We gathered our scuba gear and drove boats out to a patch reef, which is a home for juvenile fish before they move to big reefs. We observed the different fish, worms, mollusks, and crustaceans carefully and identified as many species as we could. The coolest part about Marine Eco is learning about a species in class and then actually diving and seeing it in real life. I can’t wait for our next dive!

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Today, I was confronted with a decision at about7 AM. After pushing myself about a mile and a half down the road, I was jogging in place at a fork with my running buddy, Liz, deciding between either the 3.5-mile run or the 5-mile challenge. After about 30 seconds of back and forth, I suddenly bounded through the 5-mile entrance, Liz right next to me. We decided our goal was to finish the run faster than we had ever run long distance before. Continue reading →

Eleutheros, Uncategorized

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 is your worldview, how did it come to be, and has it been changed or challenged since you arrived at The Island School? 

by Lucy Cram:

I sit on the girl’s dorm deck looking out at the stars that shine more numerous and brightly than at home orNew Jersey, and the soft breeze drifts across my face and legs and I feel peaceful. The twinkling specks in the distance take me back to a spring morning ten years ago, when my father woke me up atfour a.m.to watch a meteor shower. I remember half sleepwalking to our dock, all the while wishing I were back in bed; however, as soon as I saw the shooting stars speed by me in such numbers, I was awake and happy. My dad has always tried to pass his love for the little things in nature along to me. Continue reading →

Daily Update

Daily Update March 27, 2012

Monday was a day full of adventure as I made one of my best memories at The Island School. After a morning of Math, Human Ecology, and Marine Ecology classes, we set off to Deep Creek Middle School for Community Outreach. My project, called “Beach Access: Know Your Rights,” started by one of the Deep Creek students, is a project to stop the blocking of public beaches by major hotels and private estates, who are breaking the law by putting up road blocks and other barriers preventing Bahamians to come onto their beaches. My friend Annie, another Island School student, and my DCMS buddy Bronthaye and I are working together to create a presentation to give to South Eleuthera mission in order to gain support behind this project. It is truly amazing to say that I am at work making a difference in the community. I’m so excited for next Monday! Continue reading →

Alumni, Alumni Spotlight

Alumni Spotlight: Lee Taylor (F’99)

Lee Taylor (F’99), a student at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, is the captain of a Dartmouth team that won the regional finals in Boston for the energy track of the Hult Global Case Challenge. This challenge is a business model/consulting competition intended to improve the success of solar power and lighting technologies in Africa. He and the rest of his team are presenting at the international finals in New York in April. For more information about the Dartmouth team and the Hult Global Case Challenge, you can check out the press release here. Congratulations to Lee and the rest of his team!

CEI

Carleton University Research at CEI

Researchers from Carleton University (Cooke Lab) was at CEI last week studying flats ecology. The team is determining whether radio tags can be used to track the movements of checkered puffers in shallow mangrove habitats. Radio tags normally are used only in freshwater because signals are attenuated by sea water. However, the researchers have modified the tags such that the antenna points vertically and breaks the water surface as puffers swim about in tidal creeks. In addition, the researchers placed tri-axial accelerometer loggers on bonefish in McKinney Creek at CEI. The loggers record information on swimming (e.g., tail beats) and feeding (e.g., tilting as they dip their heads to feed) activity. This is the first time that such loggers have been used on bonefish and will provide information that will serve as the basis for a bonefish bioenergetics model. The same loggers were also placed on some fish in Kemps Creek to evaluate the effects of different handling techniques on post-release behaviour. The Carleton team includes Jake Brownscombe, Felicia St. Louis, Charles Hatry, Jason Thiem, and Dr. Steven Cooke.

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