By Krissy Trusdale:

Here at The Island School the past few mornings have been devoted to wrapping up our Human Ecology projects, or “change bombs”. This is an exciting time as all of our hard work is coming to a close, whether the project is complete or not. There is a sense of urgency to finish the last cookbook pages or plant the last herbs in the medicinal garden and students are maximizing every moment in and outside of class. The projects have been so diverse this term that everyone has had a unique chance to develop a wide array of skills, especially when dealing failures along the way.

Yesterday afternoon we had CO class, Community Outreach, in which we finished yet another project with each grade of the Deep Creek Middle School students. My seventh grade buddy, Charleston, and I had our last bus ride to Wemyss Bight to plant our community garden. We put the final cuttings of cassava in the sandy ground, and topped it all off with a final layer of home grown soil from our farm on campus. We spread fistfuls of soft mud all around the bases of our cherry bushes and struggling pineapples. It was a scorcher, as per usual on CO day, so the hose watered thirsty plants while misting a few middle schoolers and their older buddies.

The general atmosphere is one of excitement to go out and enjoy our dwindling days with friends and adventures while also a bustle to wrap up all loose ends here on campus. I’m having mixed feelings of wanting go home to my family, but also not wanting to leave home here on Eleuthera. I know I’m not alone. As all of our hard work culminates before our eyes, we are proud of all we’ve learned and how far with we’ve come, but taste of success is bittersweet.