Category Archives: Alumni

Island School Alumni Class Notes

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Get caught up on what your fellow Island School alumni have been up to lately! If you want to send in an update, email alumni@islandschool.org.

SPRING 1999:

Class Agent: Joshua Lichtman

FALL 1999:

Class Agent: Lee Taylor

SPRING 2000:

Class Agent: Monique Johnson

Mike Brown is in the process of moving to Charlotte, NC with his wife Liz and their puppy McKenna. He is starting a new product management job and looking to move from a small apartment to an actual house. Mike looks forward to changing things up and try out a new city and hopes to catch up with fellow Island Schoolers passing through the Charlotte area! Ryan Eavey is pedicabbing in Boston, Austin, and New Orleans. He is also working at Hubway this summer. Monique Johnson is in the process of applying to business school and is looking forward to the summer. Maryam Moody still lives in the Bay Area, but will start grad school this summer at Smith College School for Social Work, where she will specialize in clinical social work. Recently, Mayram snorkeled in Kauai and Baja, which was beautiful but paled in comparison to “the Wall” in Eleuthera. She hopes to go back someday :) Oh, and she is also newly engaged! Suzy Newbury is finishing up her Ph.D. She got to see Andy Monk in LA this past fall, and spent some quality time with Chris, Pam, and Christian at Francesca Forrestal’s wedding. Fun times! Elizabeth Rosenberg is still in NYC, living downtown and working in merchandising for J. Crew. Elizabeth and her mother, Dee, went on a girls surfing trip to Costa Rica in March which was really fun. In a few weeks, they are going away with her father to Greece and Turkey in a few weeks which should also be a cool adventure! She loves living in the Big Apple but not curing any diseases quite yet…Abby (Jenkins) Watson moved to Madison, Wisconsin with her husband in 2012 but recently moved back to Portland, Oregon. She workw for a cycling apparel company called Rapha and spends most of her free time cycling.

FALL 2000:

Class Agent: Richard Woodhull

Andrew Thaler received his PhD in Marine Science and Conservation from Duke University last August and is Continue reading →

Get on the Bus!

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IMG_0959On Friday April 5th, Fall 2012 alumna Cate Ellison participated in “Get on the Bus”, an event organized by Amnesty International. She travelled from Boston to New York City to protest human rights issues with a group of twenty students, and two faculty members from Noble & Greenough School. Total, there were about 200 people from Massachusetts who “got on the bus”. Throughout the day, they were protesting and learning about different human rights issues in Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tibet, and Birma. They protested to end arbitrary detention in Sri Lanka, protected the rights and safety of civilians and people who have been internally displaced in Sudan, fought for the freedom of Tibetan film-maker, Dhondup Wangchen, and freedom for prisoners of conscience in Burma. In the morning, when Cate and her classmates first arrived to New York City, they listened to speakers talk about their experiences in these countries, and how they were directly affected by the lack of human rights in their countries. While all the stories were powerful, one that really stood out to IMG_0967Cate was the story of a man’s experience with arbitrary detention in Sri Lanka. Arbitrary detention is when a person is arrested, despite the fact that there is no hard evidence against them, there was no process of law, like we have here in the United States. He told the crowd of the horrors of jail that he faced, how the guards treated him like an animal, and many more terrible things, despite the fact that he did nothing. After hearing this story, it made Cate feel grateful for the rights that we have here in the US, and made her even more excited to protest the human rights of others. In the afternoon, they went out to four different locations, and protested this issues. They had different posters and chants for each one of the issues, and signed many different petitions, hoping to end the injustices that are happening globally. Cate says about the experience, “I am so glad that I decided to go to this event, and the experience made me appreciate the value of the rights that everyone in our country are given.”

Summer Opportunities for Alumni

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Our friend from Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA), Edie Widder, sent us these two summer opportunities that would be perfect for some of our alumni! One opportunity runs from July 13-20 and takes place between Montreal, Quebec, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In collaboration with Dr. Sherri Mason of SUNY Fredonia, this Pangaea Exploration is an Environmental Research and Communications course, held aboard a 72 foot Challenger sailing yacht, the Sea Dragon. Participants will get the opportunity to take part in data collection, sampling and research reporting, while also learning sailing skills and techniques. The program will also focus on ways to present current environmental issues to the world through social media, activism and community participation. For more information, please visit the course description on Pangaea’s website. To register, contact Asta Mail, Expedition Coordinator, at asta@panexplore.com.

Another opportunity is an Apprentice Deckhand during the Sea Dragon’s expedition to the Great Lakes ecosystem this summer. The apprenticeship runs from June 24-August 27. For more information about the apprenticeship, see the description here: Pangaea Apprenticeship. Pangaea is accepting applications for those 16 years and older until May 20, 2012. Please forward Curriculum Vitae, cover letter and letter of reference to: info@panexplore.com. 

Introducing The Island School Boston Office Interns!

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Don’t let school get in the way of your education.

Any alumni of Island School surely knows this quote by Mark Twain, as it is one of Maxey’s favorite and attests to the value of the unique experiences one has in Eleuthera. Island School believes that education should not be restricted to the classroom, something that is tested each day from morning exercise at 6:30am to late-night research presentations before bed. At The Island School you live and breath your education, and although Maxey will get the occasional student who argues that their Eleutheros paper is interfering with the educational value of getting food at the Marina Store, it generally works out well. This quote has inspired us to explore beyond the boundaries of our own classrooms this spring and create a senior project where we will hopefully help to keep the knowledge we learned and experienced on Eleuthera alive back at home.

This spring, we (Sarah Allison, S’12, Devin Caccavaro, F’11, and Kate Maroni, F’11), three seniors from Noble & Greenough will be working with the Island School Boston office as interns to help ease students’ transition back home and to promote The Island School program. We will be working from Nobles two days a week for 2 hours, and from the Boston office once a week for 4 hours. Our project began at the end of March and continues until the end of May. The Island School left a lasting impact on each one of us, and we therefore feel obligated to stay involved and to help the school grow.

For our first project, we will be working on creating a Transition Manual for returning Island School students. We have all experienced how difficult it can be to integrate back into our home communities, and to resume our daily routines while still maintaining the Island School values. Our transition manual will incorporate both our own tips for transitioning, as well as the advice of other recent alumni. For our big project, we will be visiting local schools in Boston to present the Island School program to them in hopes of allowing more students the opportunity to benefit from such a transformative semester. Lastly, we will be making phone calls to other institutions and organizations with study abroad programs in order to gain perspective on how to strengthen our own alumni network.

Please follow our blog to view all of our progress, and we encourage all email comments and questions about our project!

Our blog link: islandschoolblog.wordpress.com 

IS Parents Are Busy Saving the Oceans. Alumni–Where Are You?

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Island School students leave campus charged with the energy to want to apply what they learned to make a difference in the world. Turns out that some of the best role models for our graduates are…their parents!

Kirsten Dawson (parent F’04, F’06, F’08), Linda Cabot (parent S’11, S’13) and Molly Cramer (parent S’08)

Yesterday Kirsten Dawson (parent F’04, F’06, F’08), Linda Cabot (parent S’11, S’13) and Molly Cramer (parent S’08) attended the Women Working for Oceans (W2O) “Leave only Footprints” event at the New England Aquarium in Boston to learn from marine scientists about establishing and monitoring some amazing habitat: the Phoenix Islands marine protected area in the Pacific ocean. Past events have educated on issues of ocean plastics, the impact of auto emissions on climate change and oceans, as well as “fight with your fork” (choosing sustainable seafood, eco-friendly packaging, and vegetarian option) approaches to addressing climate change. They walk the talk too – the vegetarian lunch by the Aquarium chefs was amazing!

Women Working for Oceans always ends their lecture events with actions steps, so The Island School Continue reading →

Alumni in Breckenridge!

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We always love hearing about alumni get togethers, especially when the alumni are from different semesters! Some of the strongest Island School friendships are found not within the same semester, but rather across multiple Island School semesters! This past weekend, Nick Del Vecchio (F’02), Ted Griffith (S’02), and Johann Scheidt (S’02), who became friends through their involvement with the Alumni Advisory Board, met up in Breckenridge, CO for a fun ski weekend and to celebrate Ted Griffith’s birthday!

Maxeys Visit Campfire Safari Academy

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Maxey Family with Suegnette Cronje, Laetitia Cronje and her son Christopher and sister Adele de Beer

If you are looking for a great GAP year challenge, follow other alumni who have spent some time exploring and learning all about African wildlife and conservation. Recently the Maxeys visited Campfire Safari Academy, located in the Balule Nature Reserve and part of the Greater Kruger National Park. The Academy is focused on educating the next generation of wildlife conservation professionals to help conserve the natural beauty of Africa’s flora and fauna. There is the potential to build a bridge through our GAP year at Cape Eleuthera Institute to GAP and intern opportunities at Campfire Academy.

Pam and Chris Maxey with a baby black Rhinceros at the moholoholo wildlife rehabilitation Center, http://www.moholoholo.co.za

Opportunities with Ocean Exchange

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Thank you to alumni parent, Linn Spalding (mother of Robby Spalding F’07), for sending The Island School this internship opportunity at Ocean Exchange, as well as information on joining Ocean Exchange for their Solution Exchange: LEAP TO ZERO+. Both sound like great opportunities that our alumni would be interested in!

Ocean Exchange Internships 2013

Call for Innovators to Register for Solutions Exchange

Founded in 2010, the Ocean Exchange is an international platform for accelerating the adoption of solutions that positively impact environments, economies and health, while respecting cultures around the world. Visit their website here.

The Island School on LinkedIn

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The Island School’s alumni department is always trying to find the best way to keep up with our alumni–and for our alumni to keep up with us! In addition to this blog, our Facebook page, YouTube channel, and Twitter account, we have a group on LinkedIn just for Island School alumni. If you are not already a member, you can join here!

We also recently launched an Island School Alumni & Parents Network on LinkedIn. This group is meant to connect alumni and alumni parents professionally, whether it is a parent posting a job opening, or an alumnus reaching out to a parent who works in a field they are interested in. It is a mutually beneficial group for both alumni and parents. Please join here!

Island School at Wellesley High School’s Seminar Day

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Fall 2012 alumna, Korinna Garfield, invited The Island School to come speak at a session during Wellesley High School’s Student Congress Seminar Day. Korinna is a member of the high school’s Student Congress that chooses speakers and organizes the entire day of seminars. We were flattered to be included in such a cool event! We were also grateful for the contributions made during the presentation by our Island School alumni at Wellesley High School, Korinna and Christie Ledingham (S’11). Thank you for having us, Wellesley High School!