We are one day closer to the arrival of parents, and life is even more busy here at The Island School. We returned to our respective run and swim tracks today, and the swim workout was led by Maxey… by far the most challenging yet. Even though our workouts have been tough, we know we have to work really hard to prepare for the half marathon and super-swim.

Yesterday morning, half of the Human Ecology project groups met while the other half of students stayed on campus to prepare the Octagon at CEI for the art show. Students have begun transforming the space into a world class art show, and it is awesome to see how quickly everything is coming together thanks to such focused work.

My Human Ecology project went to DeepCreekMiddle School campus to meet with the PE teacher and discuss our plans. Our group is addressing the lack of athletic opportunity for Deep Creek kids. While we originally planned to build a baseball field, after speaking with local students and teachers, we have decided to focus our energy on an athletic equipment shed located on DCMS campus. Additionally, we will be constructing multi-sport nets and refurbishing DCMS’ basketball court.  Although we were thrown off track slightly, we were able to overcome obstacles and plan a project based on the needs of the community rather than the interest of our group. Accepting failure and rolling with the punches is definitely a key part of a successful Human Ecology project. Besides, without the change of plans we never would have come up with our project’s new name: The Grateful Shed.

Last night we did a practice run on our research presentations, and all of the groups were very impressive. Our community is excited to welcome our parents and share all our amazing work this semester.