by Sophie Ochs

Yesterday was a huge day for us. While everyone was enjoying their sleep in, a few of us went free diving with Maxey, Jason, Ashley, and Aaron where they had the opportunity to glide through a 35-foot deep reef tunnel with life surrounding it. The experience was so amazing and it was like no other. Then, the students began classes and research. Some of the students went diving, snorkeling and were able to catch and study some really cool species. Today the students are eager to dive and to go out with Lee and explore some survival techniques, such as building a filter, using all recycled and environmental objects. Then the team will hop on the bus and get ready to go out and help the community with our Deep Creek Middle school buddies! It is so fun working with the community and working with the buddies has really opened most of us up to getting out of our comfort zones. We are all so happy to be able to go there and see how thankful the community is to have us help out. The students also really enjoy getting to know someone from a different culture while learning about it in histories and literature class. These experiences not only help us during our Community Outreach time, but during our settlement days where we travel to Deep Creek to interview and observe the people there as well as the interactions between the population and the land. This allows us to be our own versions of independent anthropologists and really explore the land. We cannot wait to do it again this week and really show our enthusiasm and share our culture with the community!