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Student Reflections from Orientation Week

Last night we introduced Island School students to our blog and talked with them about opportunities to have their voices and experiences heard over the coming months here. Then we asked them, from the perspective of Orientation Week, just what it means to become oriented to a place, to this place. Enjoy their thoughtful responses, a new 12 posted each coming day.

Fiona Cerf

Here I am on the Cape of Eleuthera, a destination where few could point out on a map. A place where up until a couple of days ago, I still questioned why I’m here and how I made it. A little lost, and a lot nervous I wake up to a 6:00 sunrise filled with pink and orange brushes of color, and a curious smile. For the first time in a while, I felt excitedly lost; comfortably disorientated.

The last week here has been spent orienting students to the surrounding environment, schedule and community; showing us everything from the dining hall to the seemingly endless exploration spots. I find myself in awe of my surroundings, but more so myself as a whole. In the one week that I’ve been at The Island School, my emotional compass has fixed its magnets and now faces a steady north. With a few spins of the arrow now and then, through guidance from the people, ocean, and air, I find myself. Yes I know where I can go to get a Band-Aid for a booboo, and some GORP for my growling stomach, but more so through conversations and experiences over the last week, I know that the next 100 days will be the most incredibly, terrifying, beautiful and transformational experience of my life.

Watching my bubbles slowly rise to the surface from 40 feet below, in my first even open water dive today was such a new experience. I look at my surrounding, realizing that I’m literally in a new world. I couldn’t help but let some salt water seep in through my regulator as I smiled. Completely worth the burning throat, because is such a disorienting circumstance, I felt like it was the final step of my orientation here in Eleuthera.

Beyond the obvious plethora of rubrics and tours we are inevitably exposed to during the all mighty “orientation week,” the curveball was when I realized how the faculty did a fantastic job of quietly allowing us to orientate ourselves. Continue reading →

Educational Programs

GAP Program Update #1

by Philip Beardsley

Back down to paradise…this time, not as an Island School student, rather as a Gap Year student! The first 10 days or so down here have far exceeded my expectations. As anticipated, there was a warm welcome for us all at the Rock Sound Airport – what better way to embark on such a journey? Being that there are only three Gap Year students, we have gotten to spend a lot of time with the other interns, which has been very enjoyable.

The week started off with a few days of orientation followed by a trip down island. The Down Island Trip was truly amazing – it was a great way to get a sense of the general vibe on Eleuthera Continue reading →

Educational Programs

Camden Hills Regional High School’s Week on Eleuthera

Hello everyone,

Camilla, Cole, and Rebecca here, reporting from Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, ME. These past ten days, we were lucky enough to be a part of a twelve-student research group who went down to The Island School to work with professional scientists on specified topics of interest. Broken into three four-person groups, we developed and executed our own methodologies in order to collect data.

Field work was a major part of our experience. Spending three full days in the field, principle investigators helped us in conducting field research, analyzing data sets, and synthesizing a presentation which was then given orally to the rest of the group and Island School staff. From snorkel transects off the coast of the Schooner Keys to seine net corralling in jellyfish-infested mangroves, swimming with sharks to tagging sea turtles, we learned both the principles of research and how to have fun conducting it.

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Aside from research, we were exposed to many other quintessential Island School activities. Each morning, we started off the day with Continue reading →

Deep Creek Middle School

First Day of Summer Bridge at DCMS

School started this morning for Deep Creek Middle School seventh graders. 14 new students showed up in their starched uniforms, shy but ready for the changes of a new school. DCMS brings in grade sevens for a two week summer bridge program to help them get oriented to the school, teachers and their classmates.  We spend time teaching them the core values, expectations for community behavior, how to do chores, basic organizational skills and how to participate in community meeting.  Teachers also give introductions to their classes and the session culminates with their first field trip and swimming lesson at Wemyss Bight Beach.  School for grade 8 and 9 starts on September 3rd.

Deep Creek Middle School was opened by The Island School in 2001 as a way to give back educational opportunities to the local community.  Check out our webpage at www.dcmsbahamas.org to learn more.

 

Educational Programs

Shark Week and Flats Week at CEI

Early Monday morning Shark & Flats week were off after a busy camp exploring the mangrove flats ecosystem in South Eleuthera.

The flats week students not only worked alongside our Flats researchers all through the week, but also had the opportunity to go bonefishing with some of the local fishermen of Rock Sound and Savannah Sound. In doing this, they got a taste of some of the local ideas in conservation of the mangrove flats ecosystem and protection of bonefish as well as other species that spend all or just part of their life there.

The Shark week students spent a good amount of time in the field setting longlines and drum lines for juvenile lemon sharks and their predators. They were very successful in tagging and recapture of juvenile lemons, having caught 7 in one day at a nearby creek. They were also able to use their findings to relate to other juvenile lemon shark studies from the Bimini Biological Field Station.

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On the last day, both shark and flats presented to their fellow campers and Continue reading →

Educational Programs

GWU Online High School Seines, Tags, Flies, and Soars!

The second half of GWUOHS’s time here on the Cape was filled with adventures in and out of creeks and bays, down island, and – most challengingly – along our very own loop! Wednesday morning, students joined The Island School Summer Term to complete part of the Monster Run Swim course. Having no real mental or physical preparation for such an intense morning of exercise, it was incredible to see all 7 push themselves in ways not even they believed they could, and all were extremely satisfied, elated – not to mention relieved – to come back to campus and touch that flagpole. Not to have it seem their efforts were a fluke, they were back in the water on Thursday, running and swimming through Current Cut while completing a Govia– we tip our swim caps off to them!

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After brushing off the sand and salt on Wednesday, the group made their way to both Cotton Bay and Continue reading →

Cape Eleuthera Institute, CEI

CEI’s Liane Nowell Embarks on her Masters on the Cape

After graduating from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Biology, Liane was offered a job at CEI working in the Flats Ecology and Conservation Program. She has since been given the opportunity to pursue her master’s in science through Carleton University, Canada at CEI. With the supervision of Dr. Steven Cooke (Carleton University, Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology lab) and Dr. Cory Suski (University of Illinois, Ecological Physiology lab) Liane will be studying the thermal biology and spatial ecology of bonefish.

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In addition to being part of a multi-million dollar catch-and-release fishery, bonefish (Albula vulpes) are an essential component of tropical marine ecosystems and an integral part of Continue reading →

Cape Eleuthera Institute, CEI

OSU’s Dr. Mark Hixon at CEI

Dr. Mark Hixon plus four graduate students have been conducting lionfish research at CEI this summer. Dr. Hixon is the most cited coral reef biologist in the last decade and recently gave a TED talk about the lionfish invasion.

Mark and his team our the first long-term residents in Hallig House. He speaks about his experience at CEI in the video below. Mark will return later in August with Carl Safina and a film crew in tow. They will be shooting an episode for Saving the Ocean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZD2JDIuYJw&feature=youtu.be 

 

Educational Programs

Second Session of Eleuthera Explorers Camp Comes to a Close

The second batch of Eleuthera Explorer’s Campers are off after a BBQ celebration this past Saturday afternoon. They had an eventful week full of not only good times but learning experiences they will cherish for a lifetime.

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Each day began with a refreshing daily morning exercise and there after they would dive right into some of the various research projects currently going on at Cape Eleuthera Institute. They got a taste of Bahamian geology in a trip to a nearby ooid sand bar, were able to check out the Cobia cage with Island School students, harvest tilapia with Krystal Continue reading →

Cape Eleuthera Institute, CEI

Growing Power!

Last week The Island School orchard received its first dose of steroids from the biodigester. The Island School biodigester uses naturally occurring bacteria to generate renewable energy and sterilize our septic waste. The outcome? Highly nutrient rich, liquid fertilizer that has the potential to increase crop yields substantially. In some cases, certain crops have increased their yields by up to sixty percent with the addition of biodigestion effluent. A resource such as this could work wonders for both CEI and Island School as we are always seeking more local food sources and readily available, healthy snacks. With a bit of sunshine to go with these nutrients, we could eventually put the marina store out of business. Coming into season right now are sour oranges, guava, mango, sugar apples, cherries, coconuts, sapodillas, and passion fruit. Pick your poison. The next questions to ask are how much food can we make and how fast? What does it take to ween ourselves of imported fruits and vegetables? A large part of the answer is our biodigestion system that is already producing for us on a daily basis.

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