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Student Update December 3, 2013

by Krissy Truesdale

Right now it almost 6:45am and I’m staring at the pinks and oranges of the rising sun over the clear and shallow waters of the Caribbean. It didn’t hit me until this morning that I would only have maybe two more sunrises on or flying above the island, not many in the scheme of the one hundred we’d already almost had.

Two days ago, even earlier than right now, most of us ran Farther than we’ve ever thought we were capable of. Waking up at 4:30am, we mentally prepped for the thirteen mile stretch to Mount Zion Church next to Peter’s house and back. We gathered around the flagpole in pitch black with only the stars illuminating the outlines of people laughing. The race would begin with shooting stars overhead, at least Summer and Gretchen saw them, and us not knowing where our feet were. We were flying. Every few miles and with the sun a little higher in the sky, there were crowds of swimmers passing out water and applause. Vans drove by with crowds cheering and I’d swear I’d never seen my friend Alliea get so excited. Kiley and Olivia gave me high fives as I neared the turn around and they had already made it. I was so proud of them. When I reached the halfway mark, saw Will, Morgen, and a few others dancing and ready to handoff oranges, Gatorade, and further encouragement.  I was the last one to the finish line, and running over the CEI Bridge had never felt so satisfying. My hero Edie Widder was even taking my picture! Everyone had lined up, and I sprinted as fast as I could through the roaring tunnel of cheering and adrenaline. I’d never felt so much at home. I touched the flagpole and the noise just erupted as the 2013 half marathon was over. I fell over, but landed in a pile of hugs as people reminded me I did it. Little Krissy who could barely half walk/half run a mile in the beginning, had ran a half marathon, without stopping and with a smile on her face the entire time. And it was all before my sister had probably rolled out of bed.

During the super swim, the runners got the chance to cheer on their bunkmates as the faced choppy waters and currents running both ways for four miles. There was some confusion when we shouted “Go!” but once underway, they looked like the ocean was their natural habitat, gliding gracefully through the seemingly impossible waters. I was on the sweep boat, so we went up with the back, and then back with the front. We couldn’t identify people as well with swim caps, googles, and swells of waves, but regardless we cheered until we were hoarse for anyone we went by. We later anchored at the finished line, and push them through the final, and most mentally exhausting strokes until they touched the boat. Leigh killed it in under two hours, and Anita was not far behind. From our greatest to our most improved swimmers, we so equally, incredibly proud. They were all heroes and I am so blessed to consider them a part of my Island School family.

 

Deep Creek Middle School

Boarding School Admissions Officers Visit the Cape

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Each November, admissions officers and school leaders from around the United States come to Eleuthera to get more familiar with The Deep Creek Middle School, The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute. On November 18 & 19, visitors from Perkiomen, Cushing Academy, The Christchurch School and Camden Hills Regional High School spent time visiting our Cape Eleuthera campuses.

The visit helps schools understand the innovative best practices of the schools, get familiar with the caliber of the programs and allows them to consider partnering with us in the future. For many DCMS students, these visits can result in scholarships and placements for students who wish to continue their secondary education in the U.S. In DCMS’s 12 year history, it has sent 30 students to US boarding schools, earning over $3.25 million in scholarships.

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Student Update November 29, 2013

Hey everyone! I hope Thanksgiving was a time for relaxation and feasting on amazing food, like it was here. The past twenty-four hours have been a blast for Island Schoolers, along with some bitter sweet feelings as this semester draws to a close. We have finished our last Human Ecology block working on our Change Bombs and prepping for our final presentations. My group, underwater sculpture, is putting together our last clips from our dive and installation of our project Wednesday morning. We have made a 9 by 4 by 1 pyramid out of square blocks which we have assembled in the Saddle, right off sunset beach. Seeing all the other Change Bombs that other groups have made is exciting, and people, including me, are starting to get butterflies in their stomach as presentations loom ever closer.

After lunch, we headed over to Deep Creek Middle School for the annual Basketball Jamboree. It was cooler and there were showers here and there setting a huge contrast from our normally blazing hot Community Outreach days. However, once we were with our buddies and everyone was settled on their respective team, the fun began. There was food, drinks, basketball, dodgeball, football, and dancing. Music was blaring and spirits were high. Coupled with the excitement and festive atmosphere from this holiday, I saw that everyone was enjoying themselves and bonding with their buddies, who we will be saying bye to for the last time today. This sad thought only added to the festivities and we played and ate till 4:30. After our ‘goodbyes’ and see-you-tomorrows’ we went back to Campus for advisory were we worked on our upcoming DOL’s and Portfolios.

All the day’s events were leading up to our Thanksgiving feast. We moved the tables on the deck into horseshoe formation, so we could sit family-style and filled our plates with turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing, and mashed potatoes (or clouds as I call them at home). People were laughing and having fun throughout the meal and talking about the days to come. The meal ended with a delicious pumpkin pie to rival any grandmother’s special recipe topped with frosting. An amazing end to an amazing day. Thanksgiving might have been different this year for many of us students as it was, at least for me, the first time being away from home on this holiday. This did not stop us however from having one of the best days this semester enjoying this holiday from afar.

 

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Student Update November 28, 2013

by Clem TItsworth

Happy Thanks Giving from The Island School! Yesterday, the day began with a well-deserved sleep-in and an optional free dive. At 6:30 a group of friends and I went out on the free dive to Tunnel Rock. At Tunnel Rock my free diving buddy Cutter and I dove down and observed the several Parrot Fish and Queen Angel Fish swimming beneath us. Several kids also successfully swam through the swim through at Tunnel Rock which is one of the longest ones we go to. At 7:45 we boarded the boat and raced back to school to be in time for 8:00 circle. After normal morning activities were finished, we had our final research classes of the semester. My team spent our time making our final poster for our upcoming Research Symposium, catching a few lobsters, and discussing a way to continue our Lionfish project next semester. We had several ideas which will hopefully be picked to be in next semester’s curriculum. The second half of the day was a large Human Ecology block where change bomb groups met and worked on their projects. My team, Team Meathead, consisting of five boys doing resource construction, worked on sanding down sand and glass aggregated tables we made, making forms for these tables, and making bio char in the bio char unit we built. It was a very successful day because we completed all our goals we had set out to do.

Later in the night Dr. Edith Widder, the mother of the Medusa, a large underwater camera which can go down into the ocean 2000 meters, and our key note speaker for the Research Symposium arrived for her stay for a few days. All students were very excited to talk to her and learn more about her deep water knowledge. The night went on normally and students went to bed. In the morning the boys dorms woke up to screams of “HAPPY THANKSGIVING” from our peers. We all went out to circle and the exercise for today was announced. Today we had our own advisory thanks giving day Turkey Bowl. Each advisory was dressed in their own uniforms and were ready to play. We ran down to the marina fields and began to play. After the several games had been played it was time or the finals. Jon F.’s advisory versus Kate’s advisory were the two teams left. Each team had one possession and Kate’s advisory emerged victorious after throwing a hail marry down the field to Liam for a touchdown. It was crazy. Kate’s team won the turkey day title and all students returned to campus for chores. Message from Boy’s Dorm: Dear families and friends, Happy Thanks Giving!

Student Update

Student Update November 26, 2013

Hi everyone, it’s Liah again.  It has been quite busy at The Island School lately.  With the Research Symposium coming up, we have been working very hard on our scientific posters. All of the groups have done an amazing job thus far and the Research Symposium is where we can finally show off all of our hard work to scientists of many fields, and civilians.  Speaking of research class, the Deep Water Shark and Shark Physiology caught a Big Eyed 6 gill the other day. Very few people will ever be able to say that they were able to see one of these deep sea dwellers, congratulations to them!

Yesterday, we had the opportunity of going on a traditional Sunday free dive; I eagerly took up this opportunity.  Maxey first took us to the coral head accurately named Cathedral for its church-like shapes and qualities, along with its immense beauty. Maxey is always fond of going to “church” on Sunday. On this specific day there was a school of jack inhabiting this reef.  It was a phenomenal site to go down and have the large fish swarm around me; it was like something out of a National Geographic movie.  After leaving this site we swam over to the wall, the wall is where the Exuma Sound drops of to thousands of feet.  We only free dove the 65 foot side but we could peek over into the immense blue depths of the Exuma Sound.  While we were free diving we saw the silhouettes of two Caribbean Reef sharks in the distance, it was amazing to be able to see something that 3 and a half months ago would have terrified me.  Now seeing a shark is a wonder.  As I took I immersed myself for my last free dive of the day I started to relate free diving to our semester here.  You start off unsure, nervous, you start to go deeper into the semester and you want to stay down forever.  You see and experience amazing things but you know you have to go up, no matter how much you want, how much you feel like you need to stay down-you’re running out of breath, out of time. IMG_20131120_070111 (2)As I returned to the surface and looked towards the sunrise reflecting off of the water.  The red sky shown bright against the aqua water.  I look around, looking at the community, all my friends, this is a place like no other. This is home.

Student Update

Student Update November 23, 2013

by Clem Titsworth

We awoke to pitter patter of rain splashing on our roofs and filling our cisterns. At precisely 6:19 AM the boys dorm all rolled out of bed and performed their zombie like preparations for morning exercise. We scurried out the front door to circle just in time to avoid push ups before morning exercise. Circle begun, the national anthem was sang, and caciques announced that for morning exercise we got to play capture the flag. Girls and boys south vs norths. South side arranged organized attacks on North’s flag allowing us to emerge victorious. The game ended at 7:30 and students went off to do chores.

We began the academic day with Human Ecology class where we were given time to work on our change bomb project. My team consists of five boys who used the day burning wood in out bio char unit, sanding our sand and glass aggregate tables, designing forms to set the tables on. After Human Ecology, lunch began and various research teams used lunch time to go into the field. My research group, the Lionfish group went out of the Cobia, dive boat, to catch Graysby for our experiments. To do this we did two dives and fished under water. My partner Matt and I were able to catch a few graysby despite only being able to communicate under water using hand signals. As we rose to the surface with three graysby, Matt and I laughed and told each other what we had been trying to say while underwater. Being our last field day our research advisor, Joslyn, made us brownies for the ride back.

Later all students boarded a school bus and enjoyed a loud and long bus ride to the Eleuthera Arts and Cultural Center where we looked at pictures taken during a National Geographic Photo Camp that Island School hosted last spring. The photo camp was meant to expose Bahamian kids to positive hobbies so they would stay away from drugs and other destructive behaviors. The pictures that the kids took were really impressive. Then, the long loud bus ride was then repeated all the way back to The Island School.

Student Update

Student Update November 22, 2013

By Krissy Trusdale:

Here at The Island School the past few mornings have been devoted to wrapping up our Human Ecology projects, or “change bombs”. This is an exciting time as all of our hard work is coming to a close, whether the project is complete or not. There is a sense of urgency to finish the last cookbook pages or plant the last herbs in the medicinal garden and students are maximizing every moment in and outside of class. The projects have been so diverse this term that everyone has had a unique chance to develop a wide array of skills, especially when dealing failures along the way.

Yesterday afternoon we had CO class, Community Outreach, in which we finished yet another project with each grade of the Deep Creek Middle School students. My seventh grade buddy, Charleston, and I had our last bus ride to Wemyss Bight to plant our community garden. We put the final cuttings of cassava in the sandy ground, and topped it all off with a final layer of home grown soil from our farm on campus. We spread fistfuls of soft mud all around the bases of our cherry bushes and struggling pineapples. It was a scorcher, as per usual on CO day, so the hose watered thirsty plants while misting a few middle schoolers and their older buddies.

The general atmosphere is one of excitement to go out and enjoy our dwindling days with friends and adventures while also a bustle to wrap up all loose ends here on campus. I’m having mixed feelings of wanting go home to my family, but also not wanting to leave home here on Eleuthera. I know I’m not alone. As all of our hard work culminates before our eyes, we are proud of all we’ve learned and how far with we’ve come, but taste of success is bittersweet.

Student Update

Student Update November 19, 2013

Hi, my name is Liah. I’m excited to say that I’ll be writing some of the upcoming blogs.  The past few days have been very eventful.  Parent’s Weekend was wonderful! We loved seeing all of you and showing you around this amazing place that we have called home for the last 2.5 months.  During Parent’s Weekend we presented our Research projects.  Every group did phenomenal and all of the researchers at CEI said that these were the best presentations yet.  I am so proud of everyone!  Over the weekend we did many exciting things, whether it was free diving at Harbor rock with parents or taking families on their first ever scuba dives.  It was a very busy weekend full of laughs, cries, hugs, and sunburns. It was great to meet everyone’s family and learn where all these incredible people got it from. The coffee house was a very…unusual…production, there was Boy’s dorm belly drumming (shout out to Liam for that solo), evolution of dance with Liz, and a throwback to the 90’s with a Backstreet Boys song and dance. It was hilarious!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Art Show demonstrating our talented kids.  My favorite part of Parent’s Weekend was seeing everyone reuniting with their families.  Running down and chasing after cars or jumping into them, cough, cough Sam, haha. Seeing everyone’s happy faces was amazing.  I am so glad that parents could see this amazing place; there is no where else like The Island School.  Here is a big thank you to all the parent’s for giving your children this experience, it is a once and a lifetime experience like no other.  (Thanks Mom!) Though Parent’s Weekend is over the excitement here at the Island School has not.

Sunday we had a leadership workshop.  There were different classes for different kinds of leadership roles or things you need to learn having to do with leadership.  All of us chose 3 to go to.  I went to “Leading through Happiness”, the “Spontaneous Leadership”, and the “Communication”.  During the happiness seminar we learned of how happiness spreads, if you have a good attitude or do something kind other people will do the same.  We practiced this by giving thank you notes to anyone we felt deserved it.  It is true how the happiness spread, after I received one I wrote one to another person.

The Spontaneous Leadership workshop taught us that we can be leaders without it being predetermined.  The Communication seminar was very interesting.  We were asked questions on how we communicate and were to put ourselves in a quadrant of a Null’s grid.  We learned how each style communicates and leads.  We also learned how to communicate with each style and help lead.  This is very beneficial knowledge to have.

After the workshops we had the afternoon to relax and reflect on the craziness that was Parent’s Weekend.  For this the all the girls went to the sandbar and the boys went to the cut and played water polo.  I don’t know how the boy’s day went, but the girl’s was awesome.  Haeyon taught us Karate moves and Brady showed us how to stand on our heads.  As the day was coming to a close we all jumped on the roof of the Cobia to watch the sunset.  All the girls, all best friends, watching the Bahamian sun set over the aqua marine water is a memory I will cherish forever.  From the sandbar we could see the Island School very well.  The sunset behind the school, behind our home, got a few of us, myself included, a little choked up.  This place is like no other.  The experiences we have, the amazing community we have built, it is one of a kind.  It is very sad to think of the time we have left.  Where else can you watch a sunrise as you are swimming 2 miles for exercise, find the ideal asythmuth angle and area to put solar panels for math, or survey a reef for Marine Ecology.  This place will stay in our hearts forever.  We have learned so much and we will definitely apply that new knowledge when we go back.

Student Update

Student Update November 12, 2013

by Dale Lattanzio

It is clear that with the coming of Parents Weekend students and faculty are extremely excited to welcome all the families to a very full weekend. Students continue to talk about parents and siblings who are coming to share a few days together here at The Island School. For our Saturday evening activity this week we went to a man named Giant’s house. He is the general contractor who works with the school has been a part of The Island School from the beginning. He loves interacting with all the students that move through the community. He kindly hosted us for a delicious dinner of mac ‘n’ cheese, rice, beets, and chicken with some delicious cake for desert. Despite the fabulous meal the highlight of the evening was the dancing that took part on the deck, it was a fantastic display of students’ rake and scrape dance abilities. On Sunday a group of students embarked on one of our structured free dives. This week’s trip was to the offshore wall where depths begin around eighty feet and then drop off to the floor of the Exuma Sound thousands of feet deep. The Wall is known for its congregation of large fish species both reef and pelagic and everyone was extremely excited to witness its awe. As we swam over to the wall immediately students were perplexed and excited by the nurse shark and large black grouper sitting under an overhang on the shelf. However the excitement really skyrocketed when a six to seven foot Caribbean reef shark came up from the depths. After safely watching the shark for a few minutes we swam back to the boat where we clambered aboard only to continue the fun by jumping off the roof doing cannon balls, pencil dives, and maybe even a belly flop or two. Overall we had a great weekend and we are all looking forward to seeing our families.