Today at morning circle all of the girls surprised the whole community. They lined up in order of their circle numbers, and each girl had a different letter painted on their stomachs. The letters spelled out “Happy Birthday Dale, We love you” After everyone saw what they had spelled out, Dale stepped into the middle of the circle and we sang Happy Birthday. Although the boys were very confused, the celebration was a great example of how tight knit our community is.

The excitement continued as the caciques announced a break from Run and Swim tracks and that we  would instead be playing team sports….. and yoga. Students played basketball, water polo and I had an awesome game of soccer with a few other students at the Marina. Tsering scored at least 100 goals, and Anya stole the ball from me far more times than I’m willing to admit.

Human Ecology final projects are in full swing, and we have begun to have long block classes to work with our groups. We all are addressing a different problem at the Island School or beyond, and we work in groups to come up with a sustainable solution. Everyone is very excited to get started, and all the projects proposed are very promising. One problem students are addressing is the over-use of dive sites and how human contact can be a detriment to the health of the reef if it is visited over and over. An exciting solution a group proposed is attempting to sink a broken down bus at the saddle to create an artificial reef and an exciting new dive site.

As we prepare for parents to arrive, life at the Island School is very busy, but still just as fun.