Category Archives: Alumni

Sterling Wright (SP’12) Wins Bike Race in Nevada

Last weekend, Spring 2012 alumnus Sterling Wright participated in the 7th annual Lamoille Hill Climb in Lamoille Canyon, Nevada. It is a grueling race that climbs 3,000 feet over the 12-mile course. Sterling not only completed this difficult ride, but also finished in first place! Unlike the other cyclists who wore skin-tight biking shorts, Sterling chose to wear a pair of loose swim trunks and an over-sized Island School bike jersey that had belonged to an Island School faculty member worn during the Ride for Hope that occurred during Sterling’s semester. Congratulations Sterling! Your athletic feats never cease to amaze us. You can read more about Sterling’s race here!

Peter Meijer (SP’05) Representing IS Abroad!

During a recent trip to the Caribbean, Peter Meijer (SP’05) made friends with a very curious iguana who seemed to want to know more about The Island School–or thought Peter’s toes were food! Way to rep those IS flip flops, Peter! If you have any photos of you doing cool things in your Island School gear, send them to alumni@islandschool.org!

Building Bridges Abroad: Bradley and Garneisha Return From Training in China

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The Island School and The Embassy for the People’s Republic of China celebrated a growing partnership this summer as the Embassy welcomed Bahamian Environmental Steward Scholar alumni (BESS) and Island School alumni Garneisha Pinder (F’10) and Bradley Watson (F’08). Pinder a rising sophomore at The College of The Bahamas and Watson a rising senior at College of Charleston, attended the Training Course on Bio-gas Technology for Developing Countries on May 15th – July 9th. You can hear more about their experiences on Continue reading

IS Alumni & New York Harbor School Students Complete Governor’s Island Swim!

This past Saturday, a group of New York Harbor School students, including three Island School alumni, Chris Lorient (F’10), Gabe Taliaferrow (SP’12), and Arben Ukperaj (SP’11), completed the Governor’s Island Swim! These brave souls, alongside the 300 race participants, endured the 2.0-mile swim around Governor’s Island in New York City–a bit different than the Super Swim these alumni completed during their Island School semester. Congratulations on such an impressive feat! We hope to get some more Island School folks to join you guys next year!

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Alumni Get-Together in Bay Head, NJ

A group of alumni and their parents got together while Chris Maxey was visiting Bay Head, NJ last week. Rick and Kay Tell (parents of Elizabeth Tell, SP’11) took the crew out on their boat to cruise from Mantoloking to Bay Head. Looks like a boat-load of fun!

From left to right: Kris Lucas (mother of Grace Lucas, SP’08), Elizabeth Tell (SP’11), Julia Rew (F’10), Jane Rew (F’08), Maddie Lucas,  Russ Lucas (father of Grace Lucas, SP’08), Chris Maxey, Pam Rew, Dan Rew

Summer Shark Intern Blog: Grace Dennis (Su’10)

I’m Grace Dennis, one of the shark interns for the summer. I’m from Houston, TX and study Environmental Biology and Economics at Colgate University. This is my third summer on Eleuthera and I love it here. I first came to the Island School as a student for Summer Term 2010, then again last summer as a shark intern to work on the nurse shark mating project. This summer I’m lucky to be working on all three shark projects, the nurse shark mating project, Ian’s lemon shark predator and prey project, and Edd’s stress physiology project.

Currently shark team is very excited about retrieving a satellite tag, which just spent 8 months on a reef shark. Continue reading

A Day in the Life of Fritter

There are very few people (or animals) who have been at The Island School as long as its founders, Chris and Pam Maxey, and Fritter is one of them. Love him or hate him–either way you probably have some memorable experiences with this fickle feline. The other day, Fritter ran out of food (again) so we caught him first writing an angry email to all staff members, demanding they go out and buy him more Meow Mix. When that didn’t work, he got on the phone to call the marina store to see if they had any Meow Mix lying around and was very upset to find out that they did not…

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Eventually Fritter got over it and went back to doing what he does best.

 

Summer Intern Blog: Shark Intern, Chris Daniell (F’10) & Boathouse Intern, H. Hoell

Chris Daniell

Hello! My name is Chris Daniell, Shark Intern and IS alum, and thank you for reading my blog post!

Being a student at the Island School was the most amazing experience of my life. I was here in the fall of 2010, and I spent the majority of 2011 trying to return. And here I am, living on Eleuthera, and living the dream.

The three months I spent as an Island School student were the best of my life. I loved every aspect of life here, from the more environmentally conscious nature of life, learning new things and meeting new people, and exploring the island of Eleuthera. However, my favorite part of The Island School experience was the connection to the ocean. My life has been dominated by a love for two things: science and the creatures that inhabit the world’s oceans. The Island School gave me my first hands-on experience with marine science, and gave me the opportunity to work with marine biologists. I was placed Continue reading

Knock, Knock…

…Who’s there? It’s Chris Maxey! Last week, Maxey surprised alum Carter Brown (SP’09) with an early morning visit and dragged him out of bed to do a run-swim in Bay Head on the Jersey Shore. Later that night, Maxey went out to dinner with a big crew of alumni: Elizabeth Tell (SP’11), Jane Rew (F’08), and Julia Rew (F’10).

Watch out, Maxey might show up at your home next!

Alumni Spotlight: Maggie Cissel (SP’06)

Since leaving the island 6 years ago Maggie Cissel (SP’06) has been in search of a way to give back what The Island School gave her and an avenue to channel the important lessons she learned here of empowerment, sustainability and community work. Recently, she and her two friends launched a Kickstarter project that aims to fulfill these three things.

Maggie graduated from Elon University in North Carolina this past spring with a degree in Strategic Communications and an emphasis on video production. In January 2012, she had the opportunity to travel to India with Elon’s President, his wife and a professional video producer to film several documentaries for Elon’s Study Abroad office. As a result of her time there, Maggie and her two friends have decided to return to India and start a global community photography project. You can find out more about Maggie’s project on her blog, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

In reflecting upon her Island School experience, she says “I feel indebted to The Island School, Continue reading