We have been spending a lot of time doing work on our research projects these past few days, getting ready for the presentation Parents’ Weekend, and the Research Symposium. My research group, Climate Change, spent our class yesterday preparing for presentations that we are giving this afternoon to other students, and teachers. The last presentation that we gave was only our project introductions, but now we are presenting about our whole project, so these presentations definitely cover a lot more ground. In climate change, we have been studying the effects that rising temperatures and acidity have on tropical flats fishes, and to do this, we have been doing a lot of work in the lab, with a shuttlebox. A shuttlebox is two tanks, about the size of a baby pool, connected by a shuttle. We change the lower the pH in one tank, observing at what point fish will leave the environment that they are used to, to go to an environment that is more suitable for them, having a lower pH. While we are in the lab, it can be stressful Continue reading
Yearly Archives: 2012
Have One On Us!
[slideshow]
This week, Island School alumni 21 and older gathered in various cities across the US and Bahamas to “Have One On Us”! These events were hosted by the members of the Alumni Advisory Board in an effort to establish stronger regional alumni groups by reconnecting with old friends and getting to know one another, as well as promote CONCHtribution. The first one was in Boston on Wednesday night. Despite the snow and cold weather, 17 alumni, ranging from Fall 1999 to Spring 2006, weathered the storm, in true Island School fashion, to meet up and establish some cross-semester relationships in the region.
On Thursday evening, members of the Alumni Advisory Board hosted events in Denver, San Francisco, and Nassau! These are relatively uncharted territories for Island School alumni events so it was very exciting to have such successful events in each of those locations. Continue reading
Student Update November 08, 2012
Over the past few days on campus, everyone has been really excited to get started on our Human Ecology final projects. We had our first meeting on Monday morning to talk about issues around campus, Eleuthera, and back home, which could use improvement. After discussion, we found other people who had similar interest, and then talked about potential solutions. My group, which also includes Maren and Remington, is trying to come up with a way that students can wash some of our own more urgent laundry on campus (exercise clothes, stains, etc.) without taking away business from the local business that washes our laundry every week. It has been interesting to listen to the other projects that students have in mind, and exciting to see ways that the impact of our community is going to be improved!
After Human Eco on Monday, we went to DCMS for Community Outreach. Continue reading
Biodigestion in Action
Over the course of the last several weeks, Island School students spent time kayaking, experienced a hurricane, explored the majority of the island, and additionally, were able to gain intimate knowledge of many of the systems that make the campus run. Most notably, aquaponics, aquaculture, permaculture, and biodigestion were featured as Human Ecology modules during the kayak rotation. During the students’ time learning about biodigestion, they were asked to take a look at the ways Island School falls short of its goals of self sustainability and try to find some solutions. In doing so, students’ learned about the systems that support human life on campus, where waste comes from, how humans get energy, and how we can improve as a community. The focus of their work was mainly turning waste to energy, which led to some hands on work with the biodigestion system. Students learned about the anaerobic process, how biodigestion mimics natural systems, how renewable energy is generated by microbes, and eventually how to put that energy to use. After dinner circle on Wednesday, students ventured to the biodigester to check out some of the applications of biogas. They observed running the gas through a conventional burner system and explored possibilities for how this campus system could develop into the future. [slideshow]
Zombie Morning Exercise!
The students were in for quite a surprise during morning exercise the day after Halloween. Instead of a normal run-swim, they were greeted by ZOMBIES all along the way…
Rob Neely (SP’99) Visits Campus
Rob Neely, a student during the pioneer semester of The Island School, as well as a faculty member Fall 2003-Spring 2004 visited campus last week with his fiancé, Shanti Nulu. During his visit, he had the opportunity to make a presentation to the Fall 2012 students, showing them photos of what campus looked like back in Spring 1999 and sharing stories of his experience more than 10 years ago. In addition to kicking back and enjoying his vacation, Rob got to interact with the current students at meals and reunite with John Schatz with whom he worked during his year as a teacher. It was great to have you back, Rob!
Conch Research Project Update
“CONCHE DIEM”
Hurricane Sandy has come and gone, and although the winds have died down, visibility in the water is next to nil. We rely on good visibility to be certain that we actually see all of the conch along our transects. Because of this, our full research day has been grounded; however, we are trying to make the most of it. We have already begun writing up our results and streamlining the information, finding trends in our data and creating graphs. We are also working on creating our posters that we will present at the Research Symposium at the end of the semester. Here is a picture of us working hard, even inside the classroom. 
Job Openings at Cape Eleuthera Institute
The Cape Eleuthera Institute currently has a number of job openings. If you are interested in applying to the CEI Aquaculture Manager, CEI Aquaponics System Manager, Assistant Lead Educator, Early Childhood Educator, or Administrative Assistant positions please visit our website here.
We are also accepting applications for internships for Spring, Summer and Fall 2013. If you or someone you know is interested, you can find more information on our website here.
For all other inquiries, please contact info@ceibahamas.org.
CONCHtribution Challenge for Alumni from Fall 2012 Students!
We need 45 alumni to donate before November 10 in order to relieve the Fall 2012 students from dish crew for the day!! Look Back, Give Back today!
Student Update November 5, 2012
Dinner circle on Saturday night was full of energy as all of our DCMS buddies were with us for the haunted house! After eating dinner with our buddies, the pres. room was full of flour, and fake blood made out of cornstarch, food coloring and water, preparing for the haunted house. From zombies to rag dolls, we were excited to give our buddies a good scare. [slideshow] I walked through the haunted house with a group of DCMS students, lead by Lexi, Lauren C. and Connor. Shortly after arriving at the farm, Connor was dragged into a pile of leaves, and instead of proceeding to walk and be chased by zombies as intended, the DCMS kids stayed back to try to save Connor, and some of them were so scared they started to cry. The rest of the walk through the farm wasn’t too scary until we arrived to the end of the farm where we were greeted with the image of Jake eating Chris’s guts, what were really bananas. We continued to walk to the boathouse. Continue reading