Monthly Archives: June 2014
Dr. Seuss Said It Best…
…when he said…
The day has arrived.
It is June 12th which always seemed to be more of a reference to our departure that seemed way off in the distance, is now upon us.
As we sit here in our common room in Boys Dorm, with the clock pushing on 3 in the morning, there lies a thin line between reminiscing over memories and bursting into tears. Morning circle is in two hours, followed by loading up the bus and passing through South Eleuthera one last time. We decided as a dorm to stay awake the entire night; yet just like our 12 year old selves found out at sleepovers, it becomes much more difficult than previously expected.
Whether our eyes are red from sleep deprivation or tears—or maybe a combination of both—our time together is slowly diminishing. It’s sinking in that our semester is coming to a close; the final chapter of our Island School book is ending.
At the same time, it seemed like just yesterday we were only starting that book, with the first pages filled with more questions than anything else. 100 days ago we arrived here, not knowing what we were really getting ourselves into.
This journey was not an easy one.
Each day brought challenges that seemed harder to overcome than the day before. Each workout a little bit longer, each class becoming more in-depth and thought provoking.
All 48 of us have changed, and the best part of this whole experience was doing it together.
We lived, ate, learned, and slept near each other 24/7. At first thought this seems like a recipe for disaster, for that much time together would make us all sick of each other. Instead, the friendships that my peers and I have formed are ones that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
I made a blog post on April 10th named “Ferris Bueller said it best” in which I described where we stood in our semester, and how we would make the most out of the last 64 days that we had. Those 64 days went by faster than I could ever imagine, and I know my peers feel the same way.
This Island School experience has completely changed our way of living, and now we have to jump back into our previous worlds.
Wherever that may be, it will be without all the members of this community that made our time so special. I know that we will all remember this place forever, and not just through all the Instagram and Facebook posts from the 26 girls from our semester with the hashtag #takemeback.
The Island School has changed the way I view the world around me, as well as how to be a great friend, researcher, student, mentor, and member of a community.
Although the Island School won’t be on my mind all the time moving forward, I know I’ll have a place to thank for making me a better person.
Congrats to the other 47 students who have also experienced this once in a lifetime journey. I know that we will all go on to have amazing futures, as Island School was only the beginning. It is true that 100 days have past, but there are many many more to come.
As Dr. Seuss so famously wrote, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
by Zach McCloskey
Introducing Summer 2014 Bahamian Apprentices
Every summer, The Cape Eleuthera Island School welcomes a number of talented and driven young Bahamians to campus, offering them an opportunity to work closely with The Island School and the Cape Eleuthera Institute’s staff and researchers through our Summer Apprenticeship Program. Meet this summer’s apprentices:
Hi, my name is LeDante Johnson, a community member of Tarpum Bay. It is with great honor that I accept the task as administrative apprentice and join the team here at The Island School. I’m 16 years old and for most of my life I’ve been interested in medicine and the amazing work that doctors do, that’s why my biggest dream is to become an Anesthesiologist. Working here will help me as well as the other apprentices to gain experience in the workforce so that we will be better equipped to face life’s challenges on our own. Before I came here as an apprentice I had already had many experiences at The Island School because of my attendance at the Deep Creek Middle School. I can assure all of the members here that I will always put my best foot forward and perform that tasks that are given to me to the absolute best of my ability. Thank you guys so much for this awesome experience!
My name is Michael Coleby, I am sixteen years of age and I live in Wemyss Bight on the island of Eleuthera. I have lived here for four, going on five years. My mother’s name is Shantaire McKinney. She is a part of the accounts team here at the Island School. I am the oldest of three children. When I relocated to Eleuthera, I was awarded the exciting opportunity to attend DCMS. The experience at the middle school was wonderful and I made some great memories there. I attended DCMS for two and a half years before moving forward to Preston H. Albury High School. My hobbies include playing sports, especially Basketball and Tennis, I also love playing video games. This is just a brief biography of me I encouraged everyone to chat with me and get to know me better. Also I must say thank you so much for choosing me as your new facilities apprentice.
Hello, my name is Jermaine Sands. I am a 6 feet tall 19 year old guy who’s smart, outspoken, determined and loves to laugh. I presently attend the College of The Bahamas where I’m studying to obtain an associates degree in mechanical engineering. In my spare time I love playing basketball, running, fishing and listening to music. As a little boy growing up I would go out to the airport with my grandmother and watch the airplanes as they landed and took off. It was then that I knew that was what I wanted to do, fly airplanes and become a well renowned pilot. So until then I’ll keep striving for excellence.
My name is Kendeisha Beatrice Forbes. I am seventeen years of age and I’m going into the twelfth grade this fall. My passion is cooking and I absolutely enjoy working in the kitchen! I recently did a culinary training course at Lincoln College in West Palm, Florida where I learned many cooking skills and techniques. I also won first winner up in the Young Chef competition here in Eleuthera. I love to create new and exciting recipes, I recently made a Sapodilla Cheesecake that honestly, tasted heavenly. It has now become one of my signature dishes. When I graduate from high school, I would love the opportunity to go to culinary school and become an executive chef! Not only do I enjoy cooking but I also enjoy eating great food, dining at fine restaurants and meeting new people.
Finding Querencias Away from Island School
Spring 2007 alumna, Hilary Waleka, recently sent us a link to a post on her blog. In this post, she wrote about querencias. Ever since attending Island School and learning about the meaning of a querencia, Hilary has sought out a special place for her to reflect and be aware of her sense of place in a number of places she has lived and traveled to. In this blog post, she shares her most recent querencia spot: http://hilarywalecka.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/querencia/
Alumni Spotlight: Krissy Truesdale (F’13)!
Fall 2013 alumna Krissy Truesdale had an impressive resume even before she attended The Island School this year, having started her own charity, Solar for Our Superheroes. Since returning home after her semester ended in December, Krissy has been keeping herself very busy and making huge strides with her growing non-profit. We heard from Krissy earlier this week who gave us a complete run-down on the project, from how it all began to where the project stands now:
The thinking began something like this: I felt responsible to do something, anything, about climate change, and began looking at the world with eyes on the prowl for ideas. During this “brainstorming” period, I went on a family vacation to Texas, and when flying home, I noticed each of the cookie cut homes below me extending for miles and miles. In each home I imagined my family; my sister playing XBox downstairs, my mom cooking in the kitchen, me reading a book in my room under the lamplight. I imagined a little puff of CO2 popping up over each home and forming a massive cloud engulfing the neighborhood. Being miles high in the sky, I played God, and pretended to plop solar panels on each home one by one, making the cloud grow smaller and smaller until there was just a gaping, growing hole in the expanse. The image stuck with me and the idea to get solar panels to people was born.
Deciding who to give solar panels to was pretty easy. I have always had profound respect for those who dedicate their lives to serving others. My Grampy was a big factor for this. He was a firefighter, the fire house cook, an electrician, plumber, and father. Saving lives didn’t pay very well, hence the other jobs he took on, but he still found a way and was an example of selflessness I hope to replicate. I also have many other family members in service, and my sister hopes to join a branch of the military when she gets older. Therefore I aimed the project at helping local “superheroes”, specifically veterans, teachers, firefighters, and police officers. The idea was to have neighbors recognize and get to know their heroes, save them some money, and promote renewable energy, which then would have myriad effects like promoting energy independence, cleaner communities, and of course, carbon reduction. Our community leaders could also be leaders in renewable energy. After running the idea by a number of people in the field, it turns out all kinds of people from different backgrounds were respected as leaders. For that reason, the decision was passed on to the communities. The areas that are the most active fundraising and spreading the word are also the neighborhoods who get to decide who to recognize. We still focus on the categories, but are no longer limited to them.
In the past few months, we have made a number of strides. We are officially incorporated in the state of Massachusetts under Honoring Our Mother Earth Inc., and Solar for Our Superheroes is our first project. We are nearly finished with the 501c3 paperwork to become an official charity, and we have had a lawyer helping us for free which as been a huge blessing. We’ve also set the goal at raising $10,000 by the end of the summer, and we are getting there through many means. Recently, by chocolate bar and lemonade stand sales, but we have a larger concert fundraiser in the works for the end of the summer. Our fundraisers are always looking for ways to get people involved and get to know each other, as a big part of what we do is recognizing our neighbors. We have hit roughly $200 of that goal so far so we still have a ways to go for sure, but I just got out of school and will be giving it my all this summer! We have been recruiting volunteers to help with various aspects on nonprofit work and have found a few people very committed to helping over the summer. We also just found help with some marketing and a logo designer. We have coverage with our local Coffee News, and will be having our own newsletter coming out this summer! Everything from the legal to the organizational to the actual raising money is just taking off and really gaining momentum. I look forward to the process! If you want to learn more about Solar For Our Superheroes and our fundraising efforts, visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/solar4heroes.
I also recently gave a TEDx talk at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, MA about starting a nonprofit. It was certainly the highlight of my spring! Public speaking gives me such a thrill! Between being the first to go on stage and being the only female (and teenage) at the event, I was nervous, but it went really well!
The future looks bright and I look forward to experimenting with fundraising and learning the best methods to Solar to our Superheroes. Personally, I look forward to learning, failing a few times, and getting closer to making my favorite corner of the world a cleaner, greener, and more friendly place.
Congratulations Krissy on all of your hard work and accomplishments! We cannot wait to hear of your future successes with Solar for Our Superheroes–and beyond!
Permaculture Design Course (PDC) This August!
Have you ever been curious about permaculture? Are you itching grow your own food? Do you dream of transforming your yard into an edible oasis? If any of that sounds appealing to you, then come down and join us for our Permaculture Design Course that we’ll be hosting this summer from August 4-18.This course will give exactly the skills and knowledge you need to turn your brown thumb into a decidedly green one! It can also be the starting point for anyone who is considering practicing or teaching permaculture as a career, as this course is recognized worldwide as the first level of professional certification for permaculture.
We’ll spend two solid weeks learning about the fundamentals of permaculture design, going through topics such as permaculture principles and ethics, soils, gardening, design strategies, aquaponics, animal systems, urban permaculture, and a lot more. We’ll also be getting our hands dirty making compost, grafting trees, learning propagation techniques, visiting farms, creating gardens, and engaging in other hands-on activities. And best of all you’ll be learning with other like-minded students with the same curiosity and passion for the natural world. The makeup of these courses tends to be very diverse, with ages ranging from people fresh out of high school with no experience even planting a seed, to professionals in their 40s and 50s looking to drastically change their lifestyle, to people in their 60s or 70s with years of experience working in agricultural settings who want to take their gardening powers to the next level.
Our motto at the Island School is “the campus is the classroom”; we’re big believers in experiential learning. So where else to teach permaculture design than our impressive permaculture systems right here on campus! Permaculture is a part of everything we do here. Guavas, cherries, natal plums, papaya, and dozens of medicinal and edible plants line our campus pathways. Our 40,000 liter aquaponic system nestled right next to our research wetlab provides us with fresh lettuce and herbs every day, and lots of tilapia for the dinner table. A rotational animal system keeps our pigs and goats happy, clean, and healthy with a continuous supply of fresh pasture. Our forest garden in the back of campus is a great place for staff and students to take a walk and unwind, but it’s also a diversified orchard with over a dozen kinds of fruit that can provide the perfect snack on a hot day. And of course we have our nursery and gardens where we can propagate and plant a wide variety of edible crops. These systems are not only productive and ecologically regenerative, but they some of the best learning tools we have on campus.
The instructors for this course will be Adam Dusen and experienced Caribbean permaculture teacher Erle Rahaman-Noronha. Adam’s experience in permaculture has had him working at and designing permaculture systems in Pennsylvania, Thailand, Sweden, Kenya, and The Bahamas. He now manages the permaculture and aquaponics systems here at the Island School, and also teaches about permaculture and sustainable agriculture at the brand new Center for Sustainable Development.
Erle has been teaching permaculture professionally and conducting workshops not only where he lives in Trinidad, but also in Grenada, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, The US Virgin Islands, and St. Lucia. He also manages his own permaculture farm, Wa Samaki Ecosystems, and knows first-hand what it takes to run a farm that is not only ecologically and socially productive, but economically profitable. Erle is becoming quite well-known for his permaculture prowess, and was recently featured in his own TED talk on the subject. Check it out!
If you are interested in attending, check out our website for more information on pricing, accommodation, and anything else you might want to know. You can register for the course or send any inquries by contacting Adam at adamdusen@csdbahamas.org. Places in these courses tend to fill fast, so don’t wait too long to register!
DIY Down Island Trip!
Ever think of coming back to Eleuthera and doing some exploring? Well, we are making it easy for you with this Do It Yourself Down Island Trip (DIY-DIT) guide. Check out the sites, eat some local food and relive the down island trip you took as a student. To make the trip a little sweeter, don’t forget to check out the great deals at the Cape Eleuthera Marina & Resort for Island School alumni and alumni families. The Friends and Family discount is only available through December 22, 2014. Be sure to drop by campus and say hello as you set out on your DIT!
You can download a copy of the map here: DIT map.
Second Annual Nantucket Run-Swim July 12!
By far the best experience of my life
On Wednesday my research group, Deepwater, along with the lemon shark research group set out to have our fun field day.
It was our last field day of the entire semester and we were all excited to do something exciting. We all arrive at the boathouse, ready to go when our research advisors tell us we are doing something completely horrible: hand hauling. Now, here is some explanation of what that is. In deepwater research, a series of traps were dropped to depths between 500 and 1200 meters. To haul these traps to the surface, we use an electric pot hauler. But when that breaks, there is 1000+ meters of line to hand haul, and that is what our research advisors told us we were doing on what was supposed to be our fun field day.
We all hop on the boats, two pangas, and begin driving to the oceanic shelf in the Exuma Sound, which is what we use as a proxy for depth in deepwater research. As we drive out, we see our buoys and begin to hand haul. After about 2/3 of the line is hauled and coiled into a bucket, our advisors gather us together and tell us that they in fact did not drop regular traps, they dropped a deepwater scientific long line!! A long line consists of a series of baited hooks (our long line had 29 hooks), which are meant to catch animals such as sharks. Species like a gulper shark and Cuban Dogfish are common deepwater sharks that researchers here have pulled up.
I heard our teachers say that we could go in the water and I immediately leaped in with all the other students. I could see the hooks in the water – nothing so far. I keep staring, hoping that soon I would see something. Jeff, one of our teachers, comes up from a free dive and gives a thumbs up. There is something on the line.
I can slowly see an outline of a shark appearing, getting larger and larger till it reaches the surface and in front of me is a 10+ foot Blunt Nose Six-Gill shark. Right in front of me.
All the students take their cameras to capture this moment.
Our teachers tie the shark to the side of the boat so that it lays half in the water, half out. This was not difficult because the shark is completely disoriented, as it is not in its own habitat. The shark we pulled up is from 760meters deep and being at the surface, or even in shallow waters, confuses all the senses of the shark. In addition, the shark had been hooked for several hours and after being pulled out of its habitat, was extremely stressed. It did not have the drive to fight because all its energy would be primarily placed in trying to protect itself in survival. They begin to take measurements and samples from the shark while all the rest of us sit in the water and watch in amazement. It was the first time any of us, the students that is, had seen a shark anything over 4feet.
I am still in amazement that we caught a blunt nose six gill shark. I was able to see its gills flap in the water, its mouth open to show off its numerous teeth.
The body swaying side to side as Jeff swam it back down and then let it swim free back down to its home of 760meters deep.
I watched it until it disappeared into the navy blue, by which time we all had to hop on the boats and head back to campus.
By far the best experience of my life.
by Julia Forster
Photos by Brendan James