Cape Eleuthera Institute said goodbye this week to SeaTrek, a group of students aboard a sailing, scuba, and marine biology expedition. They kept a very detailed blog during their time at CEI–check it out here!
Monthly Archives: July 2013
First Annual Nantucket & Cape Cod Run-Swims
This past weekend marked The Island School’s first annual summer run-swim tour. First stop: Nantucket! 22 brave run-swim participants gathered around the flag pole at the Parizeau’s home on Saturday morning to stretch and sing the Bahamian national anthem before hitting the course. Three laps around the course and almost an hour later, the run-swim was complete, with everyone placing a triumphant slap on the flagpole.
The Parizeau family (Kate F’03, Doug S’06, Molly S’10, Sam S’14) then hosted everyone for lunch at their home before taking a tour of the UMass Field Station just down the road. UMass’s Dr. Sarah Oktay walked us through the facility and spoke about the important work she and her colleagues are doing to preserve the health of Nantucket, its inhabitants, and its surrounding environment.
After a much-needed rest in the afternoon, Island School folks gathered together again, this time at the home of the Simmons (Reilly F’12). They hosted a delicious barbecue which afforded the opportunity for alumni, parents, and prospective families to socialize.
The next morning, The Island School headed to the Taft’s home (S’09, S’13) in Pocasset on Cape Cod to tackle another run-swim. In true Island School fashion, Spring 2009 students took on the leadership role of taking the group on a course in and out of the water, complete with lots of arm workouts using rocks on the shore. Alumni and Island School families hung out through the afternoon playing lawn games and enjoying the delicious food provided by the Taft family.
To round out the weekend, Chris and Pam took a quick trip to Martha’s Vineyard on Monday morning and got to see a few familiar faces before heading back down the coast to their house in Lawrenceville.
We want to extend a huge THANK YOU to all of the families and alumni who opened up their homes to host these fun events and make the weekend possible: The Parizeaus (Kim, Ernie, Kate F’03, Doug S’06, Molly S’10, Sam S’14), the Simmons (Julie, Brian Reilly F’12), the Vanacores (Tricia, Mark, Caroline S’11, Cole S’13, Avery S’14, Reed) and the Tafts (Terry, Dave, Will, Krissy S’09, Sarah S’13, Haley).
We will be hitting the road again next summer so mark your calendars! In an effort to increase attendance and participation, we are going to consolidate the event to one location, so save the date for July 12 in Nantucket!
Three DCMS Students Earn Scholarships to US Boarding Schools
Every year, a number of Deep Creek Middle School students get the opportunity to apply to boarding schools in the US through our Boarding School Placement Program. This program continues to serve students in their quest for continuing the progressive education received at DCMS. The school has sent 28 of its graduates to boarding schools since the inception of its Boarding School Program. This fall, we proudly sent three graduates to the United States for boarding school earning $74,000 in scholarships.
Three students from the class of 2013 have earned $100,000 for their education at U.S. high schools next year. With each student we send abroad, we are bridging the gap between The Bahamas and the US and are working to establish global citizens that will help ensure a viable and sustainable future worldwide and in The Bahamas.
IS Alumni Working at Camp Aloha & Lanakila
Alexis Sommerfield (F’09), sent The Island School this photo over the weekend. She is currently working at Camp Aloha in Fairlee, Vermont alongside a number of other Island School alumni! Alexis works with Erin Gerrity (F’09) and Zephyr Sylvester (S’08) at Aloha, while Aidan Dempsey (S’11), Tim Sommerfield (S’13) and Jimmy Gerrity (S’08) work at the boys’ camp, Lanakila.
If you run into any Island School alumni or have a reunion this summer, please take a photo and send it to alumni@islandschool.org!
DCMS End of Year Student Awards 2013
The faculty, staff and families of DCMS would like to congratulate the following students for exceptional performance during their second semester. These students are examples amongst their peers. They have exhibit true qualities of future leaders in our community and The Bahamas. Congratulations!!
SAND DOLLAR AWARD: Keniesha Pinder (Tarpum Bay)
The Sand Dollar Award is presented to the ninth grade student with the highest cumulative grade point average (3.72) during their time at DCMS. Keniesha’s diligence, perseverance and passion for learning has enabled her to rise to the top and will guarantee future success.
FOUNDER’S AWARD: Lance Pelecanos (Tarpum Bay)
The Founder’s Award recognizes the ninth grade student who best exemplifies the core values of the school: academic growth, responsible citizenship, and leadership. This award goes to Lance Pelecanos who has experienced exceptional personal and academic growth by taking full advantage of the opportunities offered at the school. He has demonstrated responsible citizenship through outstanding leadership within the school community in the classroom, in extracurricular activities and on the field. In addition, he is a role model for young people in the larger community. Lance was unanimously selected by the teachers and principal.
Summer Term 2013: Student Update July 24, 2013
As Summer Term is drawing to a close, here is a recap of a few activities that have been going on this past week! We are excited to have Summer Term families join us for Parents Weekend starting tomorrow!
Shortly after we met Chris Maxey for the first time earlier this week, he took us out on his boat to chase a sunset. The 26 of us (because a third of the community was on their Down Island Trip) all giddily climbed aboard and quickly got situated. Although we have been living here for the past month, many of us have actually not had a chance to fully experience a true Bahamian sunset. It was absolutely wonderful. The deep blue ocean went on forever. When you looked up at the sky, there were no limits. The sun just hung there in all its glory. There is no better feeling in the entire world than sitting on a boat with 25 people who you have only known for a short amount of time, but they are all your best friends.
As the sun went down, everything stopped. We all took in the moment differently, but I think we were all feeling same way. One girl started to cry and although no one else was, we all understood. She told me that because she lives in Houston, TX she never has the time to stop and look at her surroundings. But here, at The Island School, we have that time time and look at our surroundings and take it all in. Each day we see the ocean glistening in an endless manner, but it still always is able to captivate each and everyone of us.
The morning after our boat ride, during our preparation for the Monster Run Swim, a friend of mine and I were running the last section and we were about to turn into campus. We started talking about all the amazing experiences that we have had here. We started talking about the sunset and she turned to me and said “I now know what heaven is.”
After the amazing boat ride with almost all of the community, we all came together as the students and faculty on Down Island came back for the ultimate friendly competition yesterday: a World Cup soccer tournament! Things got intense…
The soccer matches involved all of the members of the Island School community, including some interns from CEI. Advisories played other advisories and things got competitive and heated! All of the students (and faculty!) got really into the games, as they cheered on their teams from the sidelines and on the field. Feet were moving fast up and down the field at the Marina as the soccer ball flew by faces, hit heads, and soared into the goals.
The final game was Scotty advisory vs. Rachel’s advisory. In the end, after Scotty’s team threw a good fight, Rachel’s team came out victorious with a score of 2-0. Everyone enjoyed the final game with excitement and the teams enjoyed a great afternoon with the whole community!
Thanks to Tim and Rebecca for this post!
Summer Term 2013 Marine Ecology Class
Summer Term 2013: Student Update July 18, 2013
To be intimate with the land, to have a sense of place, is to enclose it in the same moral universe we occupy, to include it in the meaning of the word community. In Marine Ecology class, summer students do just that, but underwater! Through detailed observation and inquiry, students foster a deeper understanding of how tropical marine ecosystems are arranged into a self-organized and complex hierarchy of patterns and processes. What follows is an example of a student’s field note written underwater, demonstrating a balance between ecological truths and the beauty of natural history writing.
Standing in proud and weathered sentry, a giant sea fan coral demands the attention of every eye that alights on Dive Site 3. In a scan of the primary producer residents of the rock, it would be an insult to the size and prominence of the sea fan not to take note of it before any other coral. More than a foot in height, the sea fan flaunts a hand-like display of five this blue veins. From these veins, innumerable smaller veins branch and criss-cross like winding tributanes, creeping upwards and outwards the way frost slowly encrusts a window.
But upon a closer look, the net-like continuity of the sea fan’s face is broken by a conspicuous interloper: a flamingo tongue, hugging the sea fan’s fourth finger with a kind of suctioned urgency. Pearly and smooth with rows of small brown dots, the flamingo tongue appears at first to be a decorative bead to complement the sea fan’s splendor. However, a glimpse of the blackened, dead trail shaking behind the flamingo tongue alludes to a slightly more sinister purpose. An immediate question comes to mind concerning the nature of the relationship between the sea fan and its trespasser: Is the flamingo tongue’s presence one or parasitism, in which is eats away the polyps of its host for no beneficial exchange? Or does the sea fan glean some hidden benefit as thanks for sustaining its bead-like guest?
The search for additional relationships between coral and other organisms brought me to a second sea fan. This one, a wide-mesh sea fan, lounged off the side of the rock like a pine branch laden with thick needles. Here, too, a flamingo tongue took up residence, interrupting the fuzz of 8 fingered polyps that distinguished this sea fan as an ahermatypic coral.
Next, my attention was drawn to a large, stoic-looking coral, which thrust up from the rock like a cactus. Strong and brittle, this coral twined like an intricate sculpture shaped from driftwood bleached on a beach shore. An absence of polyps made me suspect it to be a hard coral, which usually retracts polyps until night has fallen. A search through a coral field book revealed that this piece of drift wood art may have been a staghorn coral, part of the branching and pillar group.
In visual dialogue with the elegance of the staghorn, several sea plums lent their careless delicacy to the rock face. Drooping like weeping willow trees, the sea plums did not deign to display their polyps even to an inch-close examination. This absence made me wonder if the sea plume is a hermatypic coral, with polyps retracted during the day, or whether the polyps are simply too small or too inconspicuous for viewing.
Other corals, however, were not as shy about displaying their polyps. One particular sea-whip coral, straight and gray-stemmed, hosted a blossoming of white polyps that perfectly resembled dandelion seeds. The polyps dotted the sea-whip so abundantly that it look as though one could pluck the coral, blow on it, and scatter the seeds to make a wish come true.
A careful tour around the face of the rock revealed a continue plethora of biodiversity. Spiraling elegantly, a rose coral appeared a bizarre juxtaposition of the most delicate flower and the specimen of some neurology medical lab. The tenuous folds of a brain coral resembled a labyrinth maze. Plump spheres of great star coral beaded the rock’s surface, and elliptical coral carpeted many areas in a patch work of pink polyps. Clusters of cup corals rose like white popcorn, lush flowers in a landscape of green.
Thanks Emily for this amazing piece of work!
Summer Term 2013: Student Update July 17, 2013
Check out a student-made Human Ecology: Food Systems video for their final intensive project on sustainable farming!
Summer Term 2013: Student Update July 14, 2013
During the fifth day of each academic rotation for Human Ecology: Food Systems, students get the opportunity to participate in one of three CEI research projects: turtles, sharks, and bonefish. Here is an excerpt from our day on the field working with the turtle team on Friday!
It was a gloomy Friday morning in terms of weather, but The Island school kids were ready to go. Smiles, music, and gossip about turtle names drifts through the van on our way to Half Sound, an embayment 45 minutes north of school. Tagging turtles for research is not for the faint-hearted, and the Island School team showed up ready to get some catches. After a long ride to the creek we finally arrived, ready and waiting for the first turtle to cross our path. After a small talk about the movement of the tides and how it affects the destination of the turtles in the creek system, we quickly set up the net for the first capture. Turtle-ing requires patience and interaction with your peers. As we quietly form a line yards away, we face the net and walk back kicking and splashing as loud as we can. This may sound easy, but after a few hours and a mini lunch break in the water, we found ourselves worried that the turtles had outsmarted us. With our doubts we set up our net with a different technique. Instead of keeping the net in one location, making it easier for the turtle to escape, we moved the net around the people herding, hoping to get the turtle in the circle. After turtles made it out of the circle by jumping over the net and moving under the net, we made our first catch!
After the catch, we quickly proceeded to take care of business. Turtles are able to live outside of water, but we always wanted to make sure the turtle is not stressed through the process. We went on to tagging where we insert a tag on each of the turtle’s front fins so that if he or she was to show up in a new location and somebody found them, they would know who to contact and get an idea of growth rate. We also recorded the species, width, weight, and length of the turtle. The process was not lengthy and the turtle swam off unharmed and quickly. Although this green sea turtle was our only catch of the day, The Island School crew and the help of a few researchers from CEI put in the effort, making this a successful quest for turtles!
Thanks to Gabi for this Student Update!