The Flats Ecology team is wrapping up an amazing spring semester and preparing for an exciting summer session.  This semester the flats team worked with The Island School students to study bonefish distribution and growth rates.  The students would go out in the field, fly fish and seine, then tag and measure bonefish. Hoping to find interesting correlations between movement patterns and growth rate, the students had a unique experience working out in the field and grasping a better understanding of the scientific process. Continue reading →

After a project at the beginning of the S.11 semester where a single piece of advice was collected from every member of The Island School, Facilities, Cape Eleuthera Institute and Deep Creek Middle School for the incoming semester of students, students at the end of the semester had an idea.  After having spent one hundred days looking to our collective wisdom for advice, they decided to get together and leave their own words for the upcoming F.11 group of Island Schoolers.  So, in the eternally cyclical spirit of The Island School experience, things have come full circle.  I am delighted to bring to you the very thoughtful words of the S.11 semester:

“I’ll miss you in this place.” –Gigi “Life is a game of inches.” –Lizzie “Live each day as it comes. Enjoy every bit of the experience and leave with no regrets.” –True “Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” (Dr Seuss) –Kelly D. “Be the change you wish to see in the world” – Sam Essig “There are so many things I wanted still to do so many things to say to you remember that I did not fear it was just leaving you that was so hard to face we cannot see beyond but this I know I love you so, it was heaven here with you” (Isla Paschal Richardson.) – Eliza H. “Laugh always, even if it is buggy.” –Katie Continue reading →

Once again Educational Programs has been out having a blast, all the while teaching and learning in the field.

This time, four high school boys and their chaperone teacher Melissa Sullivan visited us all the way from Pacific Ridge High School in Carlsbad, California. The group was with us for twelve days, and we got to spend much of their time working with researchers in the field or in the lab. Expecting to come here and experience nothing more than white sand beaches, the students were surprised by how much valuable knowledge they had learned by the end of their stay here. They left happy knowing that they had gotten to know some of the finer details of the real Bahamas and some of the major challenges and opportunities of the area.

Continue reading →

We Started the Fire- with Biodigestion

At several points during our Island School journey, we experience many firsts. Only minutes ago, our biodigestion team went down in Bahamian history by producing and using the first biogas produced from an anaerobic digestion system. Just recently, we added a new system with 7% glycerol called “Hal-Drew,” named after a visiting master teacher and an Island School alum. Earlier this afternoon, we found this new addition to our digestion fleet to have several leaks in the gas tubing, disturbing the biogas production process. We quickly remedied this leaky situation by wrapping the holes in electrical tape. Our eyes lit up at the sight of the water level rising before we had even finished this process. Continue reading →

As you all know, students are greeted with quite a demanding schedule upon arrival.  Still, we stress the importance of finding time and space to reflect on their experience, to re-tell a story, re-imagine a reality and re-construct an unsustainable system.  Well, believe it or not, the staff has an equally formidable schedule awaiting them.  So, in all fairness, I feel inclined to do the same, to allow for a paradox of regression, a moment to step back.  As of late, my mind and heart remains afloat over the question ‘why’- why is this place needed.  Well folks, simply put, the answer lies in the need for reevaluating education.

Continue reading →