Island School alumnus, Eliott Wellenbach (F’11) wanted to come back to Eleuthera after his semester to share his passion of lacrosse with the community of Deep Creek. Today, the summer lacrosse camp he started on his own with his sister has grown immensely and has run for three consecutive, and successful, summers! Read more about Eliott’s experience and the successful summer 2014 lacrosse camp:
“This was International Sports Education’s third annual lacrosse clinic in Deep Creek and it was the best experience by far! Upon arriving at DCMS, we were ecstatic to find two of our previous students not only passing using the sticks we provided them with last year, but also wearing the “Bahamas Lacrosse” t-shirts we designed the previous summer. From there, we received unsolicited, enthusiastic help from the two boys passing in the street as we worked together to repair a weathered lacrosse goal.
The clinic itself was a huge success – we had 24 students overall, 14 of which were third year returners. We were not only impressed by the enthusiasm and progress of the new students throughout the week, but also blown away by can-do attitude sported by the veterans. These third year students excelled tremendously but not only with their raw lacrosse skill – they also became leaders by teaching the new students the techniques they had mastered over the past two years.
Our goal is to promote the game of lacrosse, while fostering character development through leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship on and off the field. It has been exciting for us to see this unfold over the past three years and we are even more excited about what the upcoming ones will bring.
We were thrilled to find out that one of our 3rd year veteran students will be going to boarding school in Pennsylvania and playing on their lacrosse team this coming school year. We are very proud of him and all the hard work he has put into the classroom and also on the field!
We are looking forward to see each students’ progress at next year’s clinic!”
Just 1 month after they left Eleuthera, the Summer Term 2014 semester got together for a reunion in the Boston area over Labor Day weekend. Over twenty Su’14 alumni made the trek to the east coast and they had an absolute blast! Did you get together with your semester this summer? Send pictures to alumni@islandschool.org.
Fall 2013 alumna, Krissy Truesdale, has been working hard to get her non-profit, Solar for Our Superheroes off the ground. She is now at the point where she is looking to hire a part-time intern to help with marketing, communication and fundraising. If you are interested in applying or learning more about the position and organization, please email alumni@islandschool.org.
The Island School stays busy all year round–especially during the summer. This summer we were excited to welcome back a number of Island School alumni who are working with The Island School Summer Term as alumni mentors, as well as over at the Cape Eleuthera Institute as research interns. Meet them and hear what they have been up to all summer:
Mike Cortina (F’02), Ami Adams (S’11), Patrick Lamontange (F’08), Hadley Dawson (F’08), George Giannos (F’10), Whit Powel (S’09), Sarah Allison (S’12), Jane Drinkard (F’11), Claire Davis (Su’12), Carter Brown (S’09), Nick Lanza (S’10), Catharine Pirie (F’10), Griffin Hunt (F’11)
Ami Adams (S’11) is working as a Marine Ecology teacher for the summer term and is so excited to be back on Eleuthera for the first time since Spring 2011. This summer, she has been able to bring her love for the marine world and field experience into the classroom while leading various experiential lessons on topics such as mangroves, food webs, and fish. Aside from Marine Ecology, Ami also took part in leading all of the sea kayaking trips during orientation week where she provided students the basic skills needed for sea kayak expeditions and taught lessons in the field including moon phases and Bahamian archaeology. Some of her other responsibilities include participating on the medical team, acting as a personal advisor to four students, and keeping everyone’s stoke levels high!
Patrick Lamontagne (F’08), as part of the Summer Term faculty, has been helping to teach the Tourism & Development course. His position has involved leading down island trips for the three groups of students. Not bound by the traditional confines of the classroom, Patrick has been able to teach students through experience. Remembering the importance of the down island trip as a student, he has been thrilled to be able to come back as an alumnus and see the logistics behind these trips as well as help the students bond through the challenges it presents.
Hadley Dawson (F’08) is helping teach Food Systems, a course that integrates farm work, permaculture principles, and sustainable systems. She has greatly enjoyed working with such a fantastic group of faculty, many of whom are also alumni (she and Pat Lamontagne were in the same advisory!). Two of her favorite things here are sharing meals with students and seeing their improvement in morning exercise.
This summer, Whit Powel (S’09) has returned to Eleuthera to teach The Island School Summer Term students. Last summer, she served as a human ecology teacher, focusing specifically on food systems and waste. This summer, the curriculum has shifted and is now a Sustainable Food Systems unit that focuses on the principles of permaculture, methods of sustainable agriculture, and the various ways farmers on Eleuthera deal with the climate, poor soil, and lack of agriculture on this island. The students’ final project in the Food unit is a site design sketch of a space on campus that has the potential to be more productive. With the use of the 12 permaculture principles and the knowledge and information from the Food class, farm visits, and field work, the students are creating designs that could be utilized in the future to make Island School’s campus more productive. In addition to teaching the Food unit, Whit has an advisory and is co-head of the Girls Dorm. Whit is loving being back for her second summer as a Summer Term faculty member and is looking forward to an awesome rest of the term with these students and faculty!
Sarah Allison was a student at The Island School during Spring 2012 and has returned as an intern on the Shark Research and Conservation Team this summer at CEI. The research she has worked on this summer has revolved around sharks, stingrays, and deepwater isopods. Sarah has immensely enjoyed coming back to Eleuthera on the CEI side of campus and being able to apply her experience and knowledge that she gained as an Island School student into a professional and research-intensive setting.
Jane Drinkard attended The Island School in Fall 2011 and is down on Eleuthera this summer as the Communications Intern. Jane manages the Instagram accounts and photo sharning pages for CEI and Island School, as well as document the Summer Term student’s semester. Jane is excited to be back and has been enjoying watching the Summer Term students experience this place for the first time.
Claire Davis was a student during Summer Term 2012. This summer she is working at the Cape Eleuthera Institute as a Flats Ecology and Conservation intern helping out with current research projects. Claire says It’s awesome to be back and see some of her Island School teachers again, and she can’t wait to come back soon!
Carter Brown (S’09) is on the Shark Team this summer as a Shark Research and Conservation Intern and so far has been able to study sharks, rays and deepwater isopods. Carter says it has been absolutely incredible to return to Island School/CEI and discover this place all over again with an amazing group of people. The pace at which the place is changing and expanding is crazy to see but the fact that all of the core values from when he was a student at The Island School five years ago are still in place is great to see because to Carter, coming here feels just like returning home!
This is Nick Lanza’s (S’10) third summer returning to teach Marine Ecology for summer term. This past May Nick graduated from Prescott College with a degree in Environmental Studies and Adventure Education. He will be staying through this summer into the fall and spring semesters as the new full time Marine Ecology teacher. For Nick, Island School has been a place of continuous growth. First discovering and devoloping leadership qualities as a student here in Spring 2010, Nick has worked hard to return as a faculty member during the summer, and he is very proud to be joining the team full time. This organization has allowed Nick to grow as a learner and a teacher. Now, he looks forward to growing as a professional.
This summer, Catharine Pirie (F’10) is working as a Summer Alumni Mentor at The Island School. Her main focus is on working with the Tourism and Development unit that spends four days traveling up the island. Ever since her IS semester in Fall 2010, she has been looking forward to coming back. This summer Catharine is presented with the opportunity of working with secondary level students. In college, she is working towards graduating with her certificate in secondary education, and any hands on experience is invaluable. Catharine is having a great experience working with students and getting to know them through class as well as advisory. It is awesome to watch their love of the school grow the same way Catharine’s did as a student. She is most looking forward to Parents Weekend to see how kids share this unique experience with their families.
Griffin Hunt (F’11) is working as a Summer Term Alumni Mentor. As such, he is teaching the Tourism & Development course, which includes a 3-night down-island trip and a 24-hour solo. This is his second summer at The Island School and he is excited to be working with many of the same teachers again.
We did it again and came back for round two–the Second Annual Nantucket Run-Swim! On July 12, 2014 The Island School with hosts, The Parizeau Family, rolled out a modified Run-Swim course to a group of excited IS alumni, parents, and friends of the school. With double the turnout as last year, it was a competitive field of recent alums all the way through to impressive parents who showed us that The Island School spirit lives strong.
Charlie Mounts (S’14) clinched the win with Doug Parizeau (S’06) in second and and Ernie Parizeau (P’F’03, S’06, S’10, S’14) not far behind in third. The weather was perfect and we could not have asked for a better day. After the race, all participants and cheerleaders were rewarded with an evening BBQ hosted by The Parizeau Family. For more photos from the day, click here.
With the Third Annual now less than a year away, we hope you are all training and we can’t wait to see you in Nantucket in July 2015!
Spring 2012 alumna, Shelby Ambargis sent us this photo after she found herself with two other Island School alumni from the spring semesters that came after her.
Scott Voigt (S’14), Cole Vanacore (S’13), and Shelby Ambargis (S’12)
We love hearing about your alumni gatherings! Send us your photos from Island School reunions or random run-ins to alumni@islandschool.org.
Spring 2007 alumna, Hilary Waleka, recently sent us a link to a post on her blog. In this post, she wrote about querencias. Ever since attending Island School and learning about the meaning of a querencia, Hilary has sought out a special place for her to reflect and be aware of her sense of place in a number of places she has lived and traveled to. In this blog post, she shares her most recent querencia spot: http://hilarywalecka.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/querencia/
Krissy (F’13) at a beach clean up during her semester
Fall 2013 alumna Krissy Truesdale had an impressive resume even before she attended The Island School this year, having started her own charity, Solar for Our Superheroes. Since returning home after her semester ended in December, Krissy has been keeping herself very busy and making huge strides with her growing non-profit. We heard from Krissy earlier this week who gave us a complete run-down on the project, from how it all began to where the project stands now:
The thinking began something like this: I felt responsible to do something, anything, about climate change, and began looking at the world with eyes on the prowl for ideas. During this “brainstorming” period, I went on a family vacation to Texas, and when flying home, I noticed each of the cookie cut homes below me extending for miles and miles. In each home I imagined my family; my sister playing XBox downstairs, my mom cooking in the kitchen, me reading a book in my room under the lamplight. I imagined a little puff of CO2 popping up over each home and forming a massive cloud engulfing the neighborhood. Being miles high in the sky, I played God, and pretended to plop solar panels on each home one by one, making the cloud grow smaller and smaller until there was just a gaping, growing hole in the expanse. The image stuck with me and the idea to get solar panels to people was born.
Deciding who to give solar panels to was pretty easy. I have always had profound respect for those who dedicate their lives to serving others. My Grampy was a big factor for this. He was a firefighter, the fire house cook, an electrician, plumber, and father. Saving lives didn’t pay very well, hence the other jobs he took on, but he still found a way and was an example of selflessness I hope to replicate. I also have many other family members in service, and my sister hopes to join a branch of the military when she gets older. Therefore I aimed the project at helping local “superheroes”, specifically veterans, teachers, firefighters, and police officers. The idea was to have neighbors recognize and get to know their heroes, save them some money, and promote renewable energy, which then would have myriad effects like promoting energy independence, cleaner communities, and of course, carbon reduction. Our community leaders could also be leaders in renewable energy. After running the idea by a number of people in the field, it turns out all kinds of people from different backgrounds were respected as leaders. For that reason, the decision was passed on to the communities. The areas that are the most active fundraising and spreading the word are also the neighborhoods who get to decide who to recognize. We still focus on the categories, but are no longer limited to them.
In the past few months, we have made a number of strides. We are officially incorporated in the state of Massachusetts under Honoring Our Mother Earth Inc., and Solar for Our Superheroes is our first project. We are nearly finished with the 501c3 paperwork to become an official charity, and we have had a lawyer helping us for free which as been a huge blessing. We’ve also set the goal at raising $10,000 by the end of the summer, and we are getting there through many means. Recently, by chocolate bar and lemonade stand sales, but we have a larger concert fundraiser in the works for the end of the summer. Our fundraisers are always looking for ways to get people involved and get to know each other, as a big part of what we do is recognizing our neighbors. We have hit roughly $200 of that goal so far so we still have a ways to go for sure, but I just got out of school and will be giving it my all this summer! We have been recruiting volunteers to help with various aspects on nonprofit work and have found a few people very committed to helping over the summer. We also just found help with some marketing and a logo designer. We have coverage with our local Coffee News, and will be having our own newsletter coming out this summer! Everything from the legal to the organizational to the actual raising money is just taking off and really gaining momentum. I look forward to the process! If you want to learn more about Solar For Our Superheroes and our fundraising efforts, visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/solar4heroes.
I also recently gave a TEDx talk at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, MA about starting a nonprofit. It was certainly the highlight of my spring! Public speaking gives me such a thrill! Between being the first to go on stage and being the only female (and teenage) at the event, I was nervous, but it went really well!
The future looks bright and I look forward to experimenting with fundraising and learning the best methods to Solar to our Superheroes. Personally, I look forward to learning, failing a few times, and getting closer to making my favorite corner of the world a cleaner, greener, and more friendly place.
Congratulations Krissy on all of your hard work and accomplishments! We cannot wait to hear of your future successes with Solar for Our Superheroes–and beyond!
Ever think of coming back to Eleuthera and doing some exploring? Well, we are making it easy for you with this Do It Yourself Down Island Trip (DIY-DIT) guide. Check out the sites, eat some local food and relive the down island trip you took as a student. To make the trip a little sweeter, don’t forget to check out the great deals at the Cape Eleuthera Marina & Resort for Island School alumni and alumni families. The Friends and Family discount is only available through December 22, 2014. Be sure to drop by campus and say hello as you set out on your DIT!
