Each year, qualified students from Deep Creek Middle School visit New England Boarding schools in the hopes of earning a scholarship to continue their study abroad. This year, Zachary Carey and Demetria Humes toured at sixteen schools in five different states (The Hill, Taft, Deerfield, Pennington, Perkiomen, Cheshire, Cushing, Miss Halls, Wesminster, Northfield Mount Hermon, North Yarmouth Academy, Lawrence Academy, Kents Hill, George, Berkshire, Wilbraham and Monson, and Winchendon)! Zachary and Demetria will join over 30 other alumni who have earned over $3.25 million dollars in scholarships from partner schools.
Dr. Joanna Paul, who coordinates the trip for the students, and Breanna Leary (DCMS 2013) at The George School
Demetria Humes enjoyed apple picking in Harvard, MA and soaking in the New England fall
Zach Carey poses with Francy Strathmann (Parent of Will, F’07) at his home stay in Philadelphia
For more information on this trip and DCMS’s relationship with US boarding schools, email Joanna Paul at joannapaul@dcmsbahamas.org.
What a whirlwind week it has been! On Tuesday morning, we left Burlington, VT and headed to Middlebury, VT. We met with prospective students at Middlebury Union High School in the morning where some of our recent alumni (Emily Robinson, F’12; Katie Holmes, F’12) had recruited a bunch of prospective Island School students. That evening, the Robinson family hosted an admissions reception at their beautiful, cozy home just outside of Middlebury in Weybridge, VT. We were happy to meet incoming Island School student and her family, Faith Isham, as well as catch up with some alumni!
On Wednesday morning it was back in the car and hitting the road! The team split up when we reached Hanover, NH. Cam and Taylor set up a table for interested students at Hanover High School, thanks to Elizabeth Keene in guidance, while Sharon drove to Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, NH. At Hanover, we were thankful for our alumni Sam Hastings (F’12) and Abby Smith (Su’13) for sharing their experiences at The Island School with their interested peers. Many friends of current student, Elsa Davis (F’13) also stopped by our table to find out more about The Island School.While in Hanover, we had the opportunity to check in all of our IS alumni at Dartmouth over lunch.
\Mackenzie Carlson (Su’11), Ben Martin-Katz (S’10), Caroline Vanacore (S’11), Gigi Anderson (S’11)
Meanwhile, at KUA, Sharon had a great visit all organized by recent Teacher Conference alumni Eric Russman and Erin Mellow. She also got to meet Tristan Wakeman who will be coming down to IS in Spring 2014, and caught up with Spring 2006 alumna and KUA teacher, Brit Hastings. From Hanover, we had a good 3-hour drive up to Portland, ME where we would stay for the remainder of our trip.
On Thursday morning, we had an appointment at Freeport High School where we met with a number of interested students. A special thanks to Dana Clark in guidance who supports our program and is welcoming us back on 11/12 for her Semester Abroad/Gap/Summer opportunities fair! The rest of the day was filled with visiting IS alumni at colleges in Maine. We had lunch with our Bowdoin alumni in Brunswick and dinner with our Bates alumni in Lewiston.
Christiana Whitcomb (S’09), Hallie Schaeffer (S’10), Julia Rew (F’10), Mik Cooper (F’07)
Island School parent alumna, Gigi Goldman (Danny Goldman, S’13) is connected with Laura Satchel who has been nominated as one of CNN’s Heros of the Year 2013. She is doing some amazing work in an effort to lower maternal mortality in state hospitals in Africa. During her time there in 2008, she witnessed deplorable conditions in state facilities including sporadic electricity that impaired maternity and surgical care. Without a reliable source of electricity, nighttime deliveries were attended in near darkness, cesarean sections were cancelled or conducted by flashlight, and critically ill patients waited hours or days for life-saving procedures.
Laura told her husband, Hal Aronson, a solar energy educator, about the rough conditions of the hospitals and her desire to make it better. Hal created a suitcase-sized portable solar panel that can be used as an operating room light or a source of electricity to charge headlamps and walkie-talkies while they await the larger solar installation. If you would like to vote for Laura Satchel as the 2013 CNN Hero of the Year, vote here!
The organization creating and distributing these portable, life-saving suitcases is called We Care Solar. They have received so many requests from people wanting to contribute to the cause so they have created a way for individuals to get involved. The cost of one of the Solar Suitcases is $1000. When you send in the $1000, We Care Solar mails you the parts included in a kit, you assemble the suitcase, and then send it directly to a hospital in need.
The Lawrenceville School Island School Club is in the process of raising $500 to go towards purchasing a Solar Suitcase. If they raise that money, The Island School will match them the remaining $500 so the club can get a kit to assemble together. Be sure to check back to the blog for updates on fundraising and Solar Suitcase assembly! If you are interested in this challenge or getting more information about We Care Solar, email alumni@islandschool.org.
The Flats group has begun running our shuttlebox trials to determine how climate change will affect Bonefish, Yellowfin Mojarra, Schoolmaster Snapper, and Checkered Puffer Fish. For our experiment, we have a shuttlebox, which consists of two circular tanks that are connected by a short swim-through area. For our experiment we are heating one of these tanks and waiting until the fish ‘shuttles’ to the other side. We have run a number of trials on both the Snapper and Mojarra. In some of these trials, we place a Lemon Shark in the unheated tank to play the role of a predator. Unfortunately we haven’t had any excitement; there have been no fish fatalities.
We do other things besides just shuttlebox trials. One day we cleaned the tanks with the Early Learning Center. Andrew and Charlie worked with the kids to clean the Bonefish and Mojarra tanks. The little kids were either really excited or a little bit scared to clean the tanks. Some of them jumped right in the bonefish tank but a few hesitated. In the end, the kids had a good time and the tanks got a good scrubbing, a success on all fronts.
We’ve spent lots of time in the wet lab recently but the other day we went out fly-fishing. This was only half of the research crew; Dale, Andrew, Krissy, and Hayeon, because the rest were on kayak rotations. Dale was the only one of us who had any previous angling experience but Aaron gave the rest of us a quick crash course on fly-fishing. We learned how to cast and single haul. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch anything on this trip. Better luck next time!
The idea of a Gap Year is to take a step back to view the big picture. To take a step back to look at where you’ve come from, where you’ve gone and see where you’d like to go. To take a step back so you can take the right steps forward.
The program here came to an end last week, culminating in the students Demonstration of Learning and Graduation ceremony. Over the past nine weeks Eryn, Ryan and Jordan have made profound change in their own lives and of those surrounding them.
All of the things that were accomplished by these amazing individuals are difficult to quantify with words, however a list of all the things we delved into over the program might suffice:
Taking marine ecology classes
Teaching an environmental issue class of their own
Taking a human ecology class
Community service projects
Down Island camping trip, experiencing a sense of place on Eleuthera
Community outreach at the Deep Creek Middle School
Conducting the Fall 2013 shallow water conch surveys
Adventuring on 5 day Kayak expedition
Being part of a research team as an intern for three weeks
Getting both Open Water and Advanced Scuba certified
Presenting their learning to the wider community
They have each proved themselves in both a personal and professional setting, being part of the community family and involved with the research facility. During the student’s demonstration of learning it was clear how much they are taking from the program. The diverse learnings of each student are a testament to each of their personal challenges and growth.
We would like to wish the Gap Year Team of Fall 2013 all the luck in the world as they move onto other endeavors and experiences, we hope you take what you learned here and build upon it. You are the game changers.
If you’re interested in joining the Gap Year Team of Spring 2014 or learning more about the Gap Year program in general, you can find out more on our website; http://www.ceibahamas.org/gap-year.aspx.
Hey Everyone! My name is Summer Wrobel. Today marks the beginning of K1 and K2′s academic rotation, meaning that K4 will be leaving for their eight day kayak. I think that even though we are all going to miss them we are excited for them to have their own experience and to hear all their stories when they get back. It’s definitely going to be strange having only 24 students on campus though.
But yesterday was a day off for the students, which means that we all got time to relax, catch up on work, or just take a breather at the beach. It was a little hectic though because K1, K2, and K4 where all reunited for the first time and so we all had tons to talk about. I was especially excited for this because I had just gotten back from my eight-day kayaking trip, and as rewarding as it was its definitely also a challenge. During the eight-day kayak you head towards the Atlantic side with a goal to get to this beach called Lighthouse Beach. I have to say it is probably one of the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen. It’s on this beach that we have something called solo. Solo is a part of eight-day kayak where everyone separates for forty-eight hours and for those hours you’re alone on your own little section of the beach. You have the bare minimums like a sleeping bag and a tarp, water, a bag of food, and your journal. For me, it was one of the first times that I was ever that alone and yet somehow it wasn’t necessarily lonely. Every student will have their own experiences on solo, their own moments of peace or realizations, but overall I think it gives us time to think and truly be in our own company. Before my kayak group split up for solo we talked about an hourglass analogy. You see an hourglass starts wide, gets narrower, and then widens again. For us we are all starting wide in our home-towns or our states. And then we come into the island school, and then from the island school to our kayak groups and then to solo, the narrowest part of the hourglass, where we are just with ourselves. And then back again to our groups, school, and states. It was a really cool way of putting it. Overall, I think one of my favorite memories of solo was waking up and watching the sun rise directly above me.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to this next academic week because there’s a bunch of fun things planned, like a rake and scrape dance, fundraising stake-out, Eleuthera’s annual Ride for Hope, and even a night dive. It’s going to be nice getting back into the rhythm on campus. And of course were all wishing K3 and K4 the best on their kayak trips!
Yesterday, Maxey visited PS 333, a Manhattan public school that brings green thinking and green food to its students. The most notable feature of the school is this magical rooftop greenhouse designed and constructed with curriculum by New York Sun Works (www.nysunworks.org). NY Sun Works offers summer internships that some of our alumni may be interested in. Visit their website to find out more information!
Chris is with directors of NY Sun Works, Sidsel Robards and Manuela Zamora
The Island School admissions and alumni teams are on the road again! Sharon Jarboe, Cam Powel, and Taylor Hoffman are hitting the pavement this week, traveling throughout New England visiting sending schools, holding admissions receptions, and visiting Island School alumni enrolled in colleges throughout the area.
The week on the road began in Wellesley with an incredible admissions reception hosted by the Baker family (Shawn, Beth, Erin S’10, Julia S’13). It was one of our best attended receptions in history with over 70 people (including 25 prospective students!) gathered in the Bakers’ beautiful home to hear about The Island School or catch up with some familiar faces. A huge thank you to Shawn and Beth and the rest of their family for hosting such an amazing event!
Still buzzing with energy from Sunday night, we headed north for lunch at Phillps Exeter Academy where we caught up with some of our more recent alumni and some interested students. We were so thankful for Dr. Sydnee Goddard (parent F’08) who is a great faculty member resource not only for Exeter students interested in applying to The Island School, but also for the students who return to Exeter after their IS experience! She was nice enough to host our pizza party in her classroom on Monday afternoon.
Sydnee Goddard, Brian Byun (F’12), Hope Logan (F’12), Nora Cullen (F’12), Kelly McCarthy (F’12), Caroline del Real (Su’13), Haley Stokas (Su’13), Josie Russ, Taylor Hoffman, Julie Lord (Su’13)
We then continued onward to arrive in Burlington, VT in time to get dinner with all of our alumni at University of Vermont.
Last night, Island School alumni as well as prospective students and families in the San Francisco area gathered at the home of Laura & Terry Hunt, parents of Griffin Hunt (F’11 and CEI intern Su’13) for an Island School admissions reception. The group had a great time showing videos Griffin created during his internship this past summer. The most recent student to return from The Island School, Hector showed some of his videos and photos from IS, including pictures of the IS spiral garden he dug into his front yard upon returning home.
Kelsey Moody (S’06), Aly Boyce (F’10), James Boyce (F’12), Hector Altamarino (Su’13)
To find out where we will be next, visit our website. For any questions about admissions or admissions receptions, email admissions@islandschool.org.
