Monthly Archives: April 2013

Student Update

Student Update April 6, 2013

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I realize there hasn’t been a student update in a few days so I’ll jump right into it. Monday, April 1, started with a relaxed morning exercise of capture the flag played across a small ocean cut next to campus. While there was a lot of arguing about who was or wasn’t out, it was a fun way to start off the day. For classes, everybody had Research, Human Ecology, and Art. In Art, we continued to work on our plastics project. Students chose between an art for advocacy piece or an upcycling piece (turning something useless into something useful). The majority of the materials we use is plastic we found on the beaches. Some pretty cool designs are being made. After classes, students had the choice of qurencía or a dive, followed by an hour of exploration time. Although it was April Fools, no major pranks were pulled. That was probably a good thing. It was a pretty relaxed and regular way to start off the week.

Tuesday began with a long distance exercise in our run and swim tracks. Swim track started at Sunset Beach and swam to No Name Harbor and back. The distances have been increasing, and the total swim was around a mile and a half. For run track, there is an extremely long road that goes down most of the island, which is where the actual half-marathon will take place. Runners went for half an hour in one direction, then turned around and ran back to campus. Some of our more experienced runners even went 10 miles in just about an hour. Classes followed exercise, including Marine and Human Ecology. Students continue to go on dives for Marine Eco, and as a follow up to the food unit, Human Ecology classes helped the kitchen staff to prepare dinner this week. On Tuesday night, in celebration of local foods for Human Ecology, we had barbecue chicken from Abaco, invasive lionfish, and coconut cake! It was pretty tasty. However, the most exciting activity of the week occurred on Wednesday morning. Continue reading →

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Fall in Love with Marine Ecology

In order to demonstrate their newly discovered knowledge of marine species (the good, the bad, and the attractive…) Marine Ecology students have been creating original “Match.com” profiles for local marine life.  Check out this hot profile from The Yellowline Arrow Crab who wants you to call him Daddy…”Daddy Long Legs of the Water” that is.

by Danny Goldman:

Well, hello there pretty lady!  My name is Robert and I am of the finest species in the entire ocean: the Yellowline Arrow Crab (Stenorhynchus seticornus).  I will let you drool over my gorgeous profile picture below while I talk about myself.  To start, I am beautifully tan (golden-brown) and have a toned triangular body.  My legs are long and thin, my claws have violet tips, and my shell makes me one of toughest animals in the water.  Only the finest weather is suitable for me, so I reside in the lovely tropics of Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean.  Yes, I may only be 1.5-2.5 inches, but that makes me able to squeeze into tight crevices away from any possible predators (if they even dared).  My favorite foods are fish feces and dead animals (yum!) specifically parrotfish poop and dead fish.  If you desire, I’m even willing to share!  Continue reading →

Alumni

Introducing The Island School Boston Office Interns!

Don’t let school get in the way of your education.

Any alumni of Island School surely knows this quote by Mark Twain, as it is one of Maxey’s favorite and attests to the value of the unique experiences one has in Eleuthera. Island School believes that education should not be restricted to the classroom, something that is tested each day from morning exercise at 6:30am to late-night research presentations before bed. At The Island School you live and breath your education, and although Maxey will get the occasional student who argues that their Eleutheros paper is interfering with the educational value of getting food at the Marina Store, it generally works out well. This quote has inspired us to explore beyond the boundaries of our own classrooms this spring and create a senior project where we will hopefully help to keep the knowledge we learned and experienced on Eleuthera alive back at home.

This spring, we (Sarah Allison, S’12, Devin Caccavaro, F’11, and Kate Maroni, F’11), three seniors from Noble & Greenough will be working with the Island School Boston office as interns to help ease students’ transition back home and to promote The Island School program. We will be working from Nobles two days a week for 2 hours, and from the Boston office once a week for 4 hours. Our project began at the end of March and continues until the end of May. The Island School left a lasting impact on each one of us, and we therefore feel obligated to stay involved and to help the school grow.

For our first project, we will be working on creating a Transition Manual for returning Island School students. We have all experienced how difficult it can be to integrate back into our home communities, and to resume our daily routines while still maintaining the Island School values. Our transition manual will incorporate both our own tips for transitioning, as well as the advice of other recent alumni. For our big project, we will be visiting local schools in Boston to present the Island School program to them in hopes of allowing more students the opportunity to benefit from such a transformative semester. Lastly, we will be making phone calls to other institutions and organizations with study abroad programs in order to gain perspective on how to strengthen our own alumni network.

Please follow our blog to view all of our progress, and we encourage all email comments and questions about our project!

Our blog link: islandschoolblog.wordpress.com 

Alumni, Events

IS Parents Are Busy Saving the Oceans. Alumni–Where Are You?

Island School students leave campus charged with the energy to want to apply what they learned to make a difference in the world. Turns out that some of the best role models for our graduates are…their parents!

Kirsten Dawson (parent F’04, F’06, F’08), Linda Cabot (parent S’11, S’13) and Molly Cramer (parent S’08)

Yesterday Kirsten Dawson (parent F’04, F’06, F’08), Linda Cabot (parent S’11, S’13) and Molly Cramer (parent S’08) attended the Women Working for Oceans (W2O) “Leave only Footprints” event at the New England Aquarium in Boston to learn from marine scientists about establishing and monitoring some amazing habitat: the Phoenix Islands marine protected area in the Pacific ocean. Past events have educated on issues of ocean plastics, the impact of auto emissions on climate change and oceans, as well as “fight with your fork” (choosing sustainable seafood, eco-friendly packaging, and vegetarian option) approaches to addressing climate change. They walk the talk too – the vegetarian lunch by the Aquarium chefs was amazing!

Women Working for Oceans always ends their lecture events with actions steps, so The Island School Continue reading →

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Student Leadership Update – New Cacique Council Selected

Each week, a group of students is selected for their unique potential as leaders to come together as the 5 student Cacique Council, “Cacique” meaning leader in ancient Lucayan. During that week, the group will plan special activities for their peers, run morning and evening circles, facilitate communication between students and faculty, and fulfill other important roles as needed. Members of the council are welcomed into the new role during Community Meeting, in which a public acknowledgement of each individual’s leadership qualities is read aloud. Enjoy these “Cacique Pass-Offs” written by last week’s Cacique Council. Join us in welcoming the next group of young leaders: Helena, Taylor, Ben, Charlotte, and John. Continue reading →

Deep Creek Middle School

DCMS Early Act Club Gets Chartered

On Thursday, 20 students from Deep Creek Middle School were chartered as the first Early Act Club on Eleuthera. Early Act stands for “early action” and is a service club for primary and middle school children in the family of Rotary International. The students were awarded their charter and pins in front of an audience of about 100 students, family members and guests from The Island School. Read more here.

happy easter
Student Update

Student Update April 1, 2013

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Happy Easter from The Island School! We’ve had a great holiday weekend down on Eleuthera. After a hard morning workout and some classes, Saturday afternoon kicked off with settlement day. George, Ashley, and I, my settlement group, went to the settlement of Wemyss Bight, where we met an extremely interesting man named Garret. Born and raised on Eleuthera, Garret has been all over the world, including parts of Africa and Arabia. He showed us a picture of himself in the US navy, where he worked on the nuclear submarines. Now, Garret is known as the “fixer” of the settlement, as he is very talented with his hands. He has built almost everything in his home, including the lion statues that sit at the end of the walkway. In the morning, people line up outside of his home for him to fix their broken belongings. We talked for nearly 45 minutes, and learned all about his travels and life on Eleuthera.

Once settlement day interviews were over, we went to our Saturday night activity: the annual Rock Sound Homecoming! Continue reading →