It’s been about 6 weeks since all 48 of us arrived here at The Island School and we’re already completely immersed into the academic structure. One thing that I look forward to every week is advisory time. On thursday afternoons, advisories get to go off campus and have fun doing activities of their choosing. I’m in Margaret’s advisory with Avery Vanacore, Krista Church, Scott Voigt, and Zach McCloskey.

Two weeks ago, we got the chance to go to Red Bay beach and help Liz, a member of our extended advisory create a video for a competition she’s entering. On the beach we blasted music and had a contest of who could pick up the most trash. In the end, Zach had an overflowing garbage bag and was the winner of our contest. Avery and I had loads of fun when we found buoy a with a rope attached to it and immediately decided that it would be our bunk pet back in Girls North. We dragged it around on the beach and enjoyed including it in our advisory pictures! Afterwards we all hopped in the van and headed over to dispose of the trash and went to get cups at Mr. Henry’s, a small local store run by Mr. Henry himself in Deep Creek. Cups are plastic cups filled with frozen passion juice, and are a favorite among Island Schoolers. 

I remember the first day that I met my advisory group. It was right after we had somewhat finished unpacking our luggage and, settling into the dorms and getting ready for dinner. No one really knew what the procedure was so we were all staring around the tables until instructions of sitting with your advisory groups were given. I immediately panicked as I looked around, unable to find Margaret’s table. After what seemed like an embarrassingly long time to be looking for something so obvious, I spotted Margaret with a group of strange faces. After sitting down and introducing myself I looked back at the other members of the group. I recognized the girl who introduced herself as my bunkmate but the other faces were completely new. After an awkward yet enjoyable dinner we all left to go to or dorms. I didn’t really know what to expect for future advisory meetings, we all seemed like such different people and it was hard enough to learn their names. Looking back at it now, I had no idea what would happen.

Last week was a pretty fun advisory meeting, we went to Liz’s house and played fun games while we made two batches of chocolate chip cookies, because one just wasn’t enough. Krista played the Ukelele while Avery and Zach focused on the cookies. Scott led some games while I wandered around trying to do everything at once. The time seemed to go by so fast and when it was time to leave to get back to school on time for dinner circle I watched everyone get back into the van and leave while I waited to get picked up by my Histories teacher, Emma in order to go to a festival for my project.

More than a month through this incredible experience, I can confidently say that although our advisory is filled with attitude, craziness and just plain weirdness, we’re all good friends and only getting closer by the day. Kayak rotations begin next week and we’re all so excited to see more of the island with a  new group of people. Unfortunately we will be scattered around for almost a month; but I can’t wait for our first advisory meeting after rotations where we can share our amazing experiences.

by Sophia Strautmanis

Each Island School student has a Deep Creek Middle School buddy during community outreach where we help them achieve a goal to better their society. Last week Island School students had the unique opportunity to socialize with their buddy outside of the classroom environment during the DCMS dance. The dance was held at the Marina Pavilion where we all rode our bikes or took vans while the DCMS students took bus to the Marina. When I got to the Marina I was cheerfully greeted by my buddy and his friends who were all excited to dance to the music and eat good food.

It was an incredibly fun experience when the DCMS students made a large circle for a dance off while dancing to “Wobble.” At first, I was a bit shy to join this dance off circle but my excited buddy quickly pulled me in the middle and forced me to dance. I am grateful for my buddy doing this because after that moment I felt so accepted within the DCMS community that I kept on dancing until I got tired. After this, some students went to Sunset Beach to witness one nature’s most beautiful spectacles: the sunset. After seeing the sunset, the party continued into the night where all the students kept dancing and building friendships. Events like this, I have realized, allow people to break their comfort zones and build friendships with people they would have otherwise ignored. This event proved incredibly important for me and my buddy because we have learned more about each other and will help us reach our goal that we have set off to accomplish.