by Caciques Connor and Charlie

Thanksgiving at Island School is different than a Thanksgiving nearly anywhere else. While we know that our friends and family back home are playing backyard football, sipping apple cider, eating turkey, or watching the Lions’ game, we have spent the day swimming and running in preparation for our super-swim and half-marathon this weekend, making positive changes to the Island School community with work done in our Human Ecology final projects, and seeing manta rays while SCUBA-diving to a wreck of an airplane near the Exuma Sound Wall. However, the Thanksgiving spirit was honored during dinnertime when our community came together to enjoy a delicious meal of pork, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pie, and other traditional dishes. It was very exciting to have Teschna (the Marine Ecology Fellow from New Zealand) join us in her first Thanksgiving ever as well. When we were writing our pass-offs to the new caciques, we wanted to do something special for thanksgiving. Volunteers from girls dorm gratefully decorated the dining hall, and we came up with the idea for everyone to say something they were thankful for during dinner circle. So when dinner circle came, we stood around the flagpole and said what we were thankful for; a common theme among the answers made it clear that we are very thankful to be here.

By Caciques Ian and Harrison (an authentically articulated synopses of the day)

At the first cock’s crow, we had the splendor of an eight AM sleep in; the first light was exceptionally phlegmatic. Subsequent to a palatable cuisine of granola, we basked in the eminence of Human Ecology Class. Some of us notable scholars conducted surveys among residents of the lovely settlement of Rock Sound, while other dignitaries inhaled compressed oxygen from a self-contained breathing apparatus up to 60 feet beneath the surface of an appealing Caribbean sea. The dawn was prodigious.

Henceforth we partook in a ravishing fodder of Tomato soup, grilled cheese, and macaroni. The diving squad jackanapes were significantly tardy.  After all pupils received a sufficient amount of nutriment, half the student body rushed off to midday lessons, while a fraction received the privilege of two hour exploration. Ian for instance, studied the complexities of math and literature, while Harrison had the privilege to accompany the staggeringly statuesque Caleb upon a pursuit of Caribbean Spiny Lobster. The two wrangled up an adequate supper and returned back before Harrison’s presence was requested in class. Whereat the Marine Ecology group went on a breathtaking excursion examining the ruins of a downed airplane, near 80 feet below sea level.

All and all, the day of the 23rd was nonpareil. Come nightfall, all a hungry child was looking forward to the day of thanks and feasting next morrow.

by Caciques James and John

We met at circle at 6:30, not sure what we were about to get ourselves into. The schedule said that rather than morning exercise, we would be a part of a pig slaughter. Nobody knew what to expect as we made our way towards the farm. When we got there all we saw was a massive barrel of water sitting over a fire pit. It was a quiet, eerie feeling, as people whispered to each other about what was to come. Joseph led the pig into a separate kennel and shot it in the head. Everybody was given an opportunity to participate in cleaning and preparing the pig for our Thanksgiving feast. John and I took part in skinning the pig to get it ready for butchering. It was a powerful experience for everybody. This event really put into perspective where our food comes from and helped us understand the effort that goes into getting meat on our plates. I have a greater respect for my food now that I have witnessed this moving event.

by Caciques Griffin and Elliot

After eight weeks of Community Outreach, we’ve already found ourselves at the end of our experience with the Deep Creek Middle Schoolers. The 7^th  Grade had prepared presentations for the community on mangroves. We gathered at “Seaside”–the Deep Creek faculty apartments– and had a wonderful time with our buddies. We had cookies and milk boxes, so everybody was happy.

We all piled back into the vans to head back to the DCMS campus for a basketball jamboree. Arriving at campus, we heard the groovy beats of the local Bahamian DJ. We walked around to the back of the library, to the basketball courts, and saw tables and tables of incredible food:  pizza, conch fritters, brownies, cakes, mac ‘n’ cheese. With full bellies, we made our ways to the court to find our teams for the basketball tournament. Teams were separated by gender and comprised of Island School students, DCMS buddies, and faculty.

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Boys played full court 5 on 5 and girls played half court 3 on 3. Everyone  played fabulous basketball, there was a lot of fun and enthusiasm the entire time! We played all afternoon until the sun was setting. It was a great last day with our buddies and we will all miss them so much after bonding and making new friendships over the course of 8 weeks. It was hard to say goodbye to them and it made all of us realize how our time is winding down with each other and that it is going to be so hard to say goodbye in two and a half weeks from now.

by Caciques Ihna and Brendan

Parents are gone! It was a rollercoaster of both events and emotions while there were here. I think the community made quite the impression on them between everyone’s research presentations, the jump off high rock, and personally, my extensive knowledge of Eleuthera that I shared during  one-day Down Island with my parents. Today, all of the students and some faculty went on a community beach day. By boat, we travelled to Schooner Cays. The collection of small islands that we could usually see out on the horizon actually had trees on them, which took me by surprise. After getting off the boat, we waded through the crystal clear waist deep water before the beach. It was a fun day filled with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, snorkeling, beach combing, reading, and reconnecting with everyone after Parents’ Weekend. We all were a little sunburned by the end!

by Caciques Ellen and Tyler

After a day full of belly butterflies and cleaning, forty-seven students carefully watched their watches, counting down the seconds to the arrival of their families. When the clock struck 4:45, the first screams erupted from girl’s dorm. The line of cars waiting to come in was surrounded by hopeful students and teary mother’s. Families were bombarded by the faculty paparazzi as more and more students sprinted out of their dorms to intercept their families after 2 long months. For the next few hours the campus was filled with bustling families, touring the campus and mingling around the art show, which was said to have been the best one ever. Before dinner we used every inch of the circle we could in an attempt to fit all the families. The night was dark except the two headlamps of the caciques; Ellen and Tyler. The night ended with an advisory dinner, which allowed us to mingle with our parents and attempt to catch up.

by Caciques Franklin and AJ

The day before parent’s weekend was exciting and hectic with all the work that had to be done for preparation. We had art and human ecology classes where we were preparing for our final projects by collecting data and finishing our final proposal papers before the busy week  ahead. The art gallery started to come together fast with all the hard work put in by every committee in the community; we bustled around trying to complete our assigned tasks. The decorations crew was busy painting waves, and cleanup crew completely cleared out the octagon where the show was put up. It turned out beautiful, the photos were posted all over the walls and paintings, sculptures, and drawings from students were put on podiums around the room. Students hung the jewelry made in art class on sea fans and final touches were put on to finalize the space. After our classes, everyone went out to explore near the marina and talked about the upcoming week, there was excitement and nerves, thinking about what our families would think about the newly improved students we’ve become. The countdown finally started, we were within 24 hours of seeing our families for the first time in 2 months.

by Caciques Emily and Charlie

Last night was our Saturday night. We all met at the circle with swim gear under warm clothes, all anticipating a moonlit snorkel and a blazing fire. As we hopped on our beach cruisers without light from our headlamps, we took the bumpy loop road to High Rock.  There was a lot of swerving along the way, with a few songs about falling into potholes and a couple of “Watch out!” exclamations. As all pulled up we started searching for firewood, so we could make a warm bonfire for after our chilly swim. We started up two bonfires- one out on the island rock, and another along the dead rock shore. Once the fires started to crackle one by one we all jumped off high rock, some of us with snorkels and some for fun. Others cozied up in warm clothes like fleeces and fuzzy hats and kept the fires going strong. With the light of a near full moon, we were able to snorkel without flashlights and free dive along the moons reflections on the ocean floor. Upon rubbing on the coral limestone rock, little bioluminuses would come out of hiding at glow bright. It was an adventurous Saturday night, one we will all remember with appreciation.

On the following morning, Continue reading →

by Cacique Claire

Sitting in my solo spot on one of the most beautiful beaches in existence it seemed that the world was perfect. That was until I turned around and saw the pile of trash behind me that had washed up on the beach from Hurricane Irene. In my time in this spot, I had picked up a tiny fraction of the trash and put it into a pile. But, what good was it in a pile? It was organized, and parts of my spot looked neater, but I had done nothing more than transfer the trash to another spot. For the next forty-eight hours I continued to try to pile the trash. I found funny little things including many bottles and a strange little dog toy in the shape of a bear. As I walked away on day three I looked back. Now my spot looked clean of trash, only I knew that behind the bushes was a large pile of garbage I had hidden, but it was there.

I have been thinking of this a lot lately, this whole idea of where our waste goes. The reality of it is that when we throw away our garbage and it disappears into a truck it still sticks around, forever. Our guest artist today Barbra DeVries talked about how when you buy a drink in a bottle we have this idea of just owning the liquid, but we need to own the plastic bottle as well and realize that it will never really go away. When I walked into Barbra’s workshop Saturday, I was astounded. Continue reading →