http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAZYU5LU0qQ&feature=youtu.be
All posts by islandschoolblog
Lake Highland Preparatory School’s Archeology Trip to Island School
by Eric Hagen
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We joked that our parents would have to come visit us at the end of the week because we weren’t going back to the United States. Amazingly, though, our stay has come to an abrupt end, and our normal days in Orlando, without ORCA showers, giant cobia, or “If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down,” must unfortunately resume. But the ecologically beneficial and ultimately fun lessons we learned here, from archeology to conservation, will be engrained in our memories from the nuances of this fantastic trip for the rest our lives. Continue reading
What’s Your Favorite Thing About Easter?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjsq5qVGKMQ&feature=youtu.be
Easter at Island School
Last Friday during Exploration Time, some students and faculty gathered together in the art studio to prepare home made Easter decorations. Sunday, students were given the opportunity to participate in an Easter Service at a nearby church or otherwise simply stayed behind to enjoy the delicious Easter Brunch. Enjoy these scenes from the week:
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Friends Seminary Returns to Eleuthera!
Twelve Upper School students from Friends Seminary in New York City recently traveled to Cape Eleuthera with Science teacher Kerry Kline and Experiential Ed teacher Jack Phelan for an amazing week of hands-on learning and personal challenge. Below are reactions from two students, Simon and Christian. Thanks to our Educators Laura Franklin and Scott Aland for a unforgettable week.
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Simon
When the group first arrived at CEI, there were definitely a few grumbles about the bugs, the lack of water for showering, and the “let it mellow” rule. These qualms quickly disappeared as we got into the heart of the program that made up our stay at CEI. Waking up that very first morning to snorkel the mail boat wreck just off the beach and seeing a juvenile lemon shark hiding among the rotting wood was enough to make us realize just how much this experience would offer. We were not done with lemon sharks either. Not only did we learn about shark physiology and the dangers facing shark populations today from Ian — the Lemon Shark Project manager — but we also assisted Ian, Mike, and Lindsey in their field research of lemon shark nursery mechanics, and we caught the first lemon of the project from Waterford Creek.The research also helped to show us just how misunderstood sharks are — that they are not as dangerous as popular opinion would have us believe. Our work with Dani out on the patch reefs was also successful, doing species counts on two different reefs. Continue reading
Lionfish Research in The Bahamas Makes Global Spotlight
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Since its creation just over one year ago, the Lionfish Research and Education Program (LREP) at CEI has strived to become a hub for lionfish work in the Caribbean. Recently, LREP has taken some exciting steps toward reaching this status! Just last week, CEI hosted three producers and videographers from ZED (www.zed.fr), a major French documentary company that is working on gathering footage for an upcoming TV series featuring invasive lionfish. Specifically, the documentary team was interested in learning about Bahamian lionfish research and management initiatives. Luckily, visiting scientist, and partner of LREP, Nicola Smith was able to come over from Nassau to support the week’s activities and be featured in the film! Nicola is the lead coordinator for the Bahamian-wide lionfish research project that operates under the Bahamian Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and partners with CEI.
ZED producer, Jerome Segur, sound engineer, Olivier Pioda, and underwater videographer (and former member of Jacque Cousteau’s prestigious dive team!) Didier Noirot, joined Nicola and LREP researchers in the field to get a closer look at lionfish and to better understand the project’s research objectives. Continue reading
Lionfish Research Project Update: The First Week
The first week of research was a big week for the Lionfish research project. We oriented ourselves to our goals, methods, and systems. We discussed what an invasive species means, the invasion of lionfish, their life cycles, and their anatomy. On Thursday, we dissected lionfish in the lab. Our project began with learning external anatomy, including how to prevent lionfish stings. Next cut their bellies and look into the internal anatomy. We saw their key organs, and even their super stretch stomach that makes them such a successful predator. I found it especially interesting when we opened their stomach; we identified their stomach contents. This is especially significant because we identified their stomach contents to determine which species were suffering due to lionfish predation. I really enjoyed our dissection. The following week was our first field day. We went diving on a reef and practiced protocol for surveying a particular reef. The group was really excited to begin their work and get in the water. Stay tuned for new updates from the Lionfish research project!
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Conch Research Project Update: Our First Day in the Field
by Amelia Patsalos-Fox, Shane Wetmore, Sterling Wright
On Saturday we went out to free dive for conch in the shallows near the sandbar to see how many adults we could find. It was a nice first experience for us and it taught us how to find conch even when they are camouflaged in the sand. For the past week we have been focusing on queen conch identification, history of the conch fishery, and ways to survey the population effectively. Our most exciting experience so far has been in the field. We were able to travel out into Cape Eleuthera Sound and take our first peek at some conch. As we snorkeled around, we practiced our free diving and determining live queen conch from dead shells. We mostly saw juveniles and a few sub-adult sizes. We then gathered in a group in the water to practice identifying differences between juvenile and sexually mature conch shells. This was very helpful in learning about the shells. It was extremely hands on and we had the help of a visiting conch researcher, Catherine Booker, from Community Conch, a Bahamian non-profit organization. She had given us a presentation previously on conch in the Bahamas and it was amazing to see her teach us about proper ways spot conch. All in all it was a positive experience and was very helpful towards our future in surveying the density of conchs in the Cape Eleuthera Bite.
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The following week we were able to go out and start experimenting with collecting real data. Our project hopes to identify Continue reading
The Maxeys Finally Make it Out West
Pam and Chris made their first trip out to California this week and had the opportunity to reconnect with old friends, as well as meet some prospective Island School students. Chip and Melanie Vetter (IS Parents of Anne (S’11) and Matt (S’09)) held a gathering at their home in Kentfield, CA. Over 40 prospective students, Island School alumni, faculty alumni, and friends were in attendance! Thank you to all who came out and especially to the Vetters for hosting such a great evening!
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Alumni Spotlight: Lee Taylor (F’99)
Lee Taylor (F’99), a student at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, is the captain of a Dartmouth team that won the regional finals in Boston for the energy track of the Hult Global Case Challenge. This challenge is a business model/consulting competition intended to improve the success of solar power and lighting technologies in Africa. He and the rest of his team are presenting at the international finals in New York in April. For more information about the Dartmouth team and the Hult Global Case Challenge, you can check out the press release here. Congratulations to Lee and the rest of his team!