“The Fruits of our Labors”
by Caciques Augie and Aly
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Today was Legacy Day. It is one day of the semester where we as young leaders leave our mark on campus. It involves hard labor, sweat and teamwork, fueled by the internal flame of love of our community that burns in all of our souls. We all worked together to plant trees, build trellises, thatched walls, garden beds, and a better community. Continue reading
“Hitting Halfway”
by Caciques Clay Bales and Hunter Foote
Today was a big mile marker for the community. We hit day 50 of 100. For those of us on our 8-day academic rotation, it felt wrong celebrating with only half of our Island School community. The 23 of us here are missing our other halves on kayak and Down Island trips.
As caciques, we wanted to make hitting 50 a special day. At the same time that we feel we’ve been here forever because of the friendships we’ve made, it feels like we haven’t been here for long at all. At dinner circle, we had the community go around and say one word that describes their past 50 days here: change, growth, gnarly, adventure, and too short, were all words that came up. We then had the community go back around and share one word that describes their anticipation for the upcoming 50 days. We heard words like: possibilities, endurance, half marathon, solo, Down Island, and kayak. Continue reading
“A Smaller Community”
by Caciques Ellen Doughty & Jackson Rafter
Our morning began with a regrettable goodbye to half of our loved community as K1 and K2 bravely departed on either their Kayak or Down Island Trips. We wished them safe journeys and anticipate their return. On the other hand, we know that the events ahead of us will bring new relationships and experiences for everyone, in addition to wonderful stories when we our entire community is reunited. We joined together under the moon at morning circle and those of us who are staying on campus for our academic week began a new rotation of chores, before morning exercise as we waved goodbye to our friends. Throughout the day, the small group of 24 really focused on how a temporary smaller community can impact Continue reading
“Halfway, and We’re Off”
October 17, 2010
Caciques Will Overman and Catherine Pirie
Today, Monday October 18th, 2010 marks the halfway point of our Island School journey. Many different emotions are flying all over campus right now. Some are excited to have made it this far, others sad because it is coming that much closer to the end. But I believe that all of us are stoked for the next three weeks… KAYAK ROTATIONS AND DOWN ISLAND TRIPS!
Just a few minutes ago half of the student body left campus to either go kayaking for eight days or go explore Eleuthera by car. Continue reading
“Endings and Beginnings”
October 15, 2010
by Caciques Meaghan Kachadoorian and Chris Daniell
Today, our five-week academic rotation has officially ended. Already? It’s hard to believe that this phase of our Island School journey has been completed. As the weeks went on, pride developed for the various academic groups we’d been involved in. In research, common experience and challenge created support systems and research group pride. In the minutes after our five-hour research block getting ready for dinner circle, crazy stories buzzed through the air. “There were eleven Nassau grouper at just one reef!” from the patch reef team and “…so after pulling up the line for an hour and a half, the gulper shark came right up alongside the boat!” from deep water shark research. Continue reading
October 14, 2010
“Crazy Currents, Sailboats, and Composting Songs”
By Caciques Heather and Jackson
This morning we awoke to “extended morning exercise.” For Swim Track, Jackson, being cacique, designed a workout that took us farther than we had ever gone before. The swim out to the “pole” was relatively smooth, as the current was pushing us along. At the turnaround point, however, we realized that the swim back to campus against the current would be a bit more challenging. I had countless moments of frustration when I plunged my head into the water, kicking and pulling my hardest, only to realize that I was barely moving. Continue reading
“Come Together As One”
October 13, 2010
By Caciques Daisy Spencer and Noah Boskey
The day started with our intention to change things up and that became our theme for the day. Since the community is soon departing for our kayak trips we only have a few days left to enjoy each others company before we are split into smaller groups. Our goal for the day was to have the whole Island School community come together as one and what a great way for us to use our community meeting time for. This was the first time caciques got to lead an activity Continue reading
“Off with a Bang”
October 11, 2010
By Caciques Julia Rew and CJ Easton
Today started off with a bang…literally. It was our second timed run-swim of the semester and the south sides of the dorms went first. Everyone was eager to discover if they improved on their last time. This would be a test of the training that we have been doing for the first half of our semester. This exercise would not only show running or swimming skills, it would portray both. This morning the north students had it easy, instead of testing their abilities, they cheered on the other community members. The support team was made up of groups of north dorm students, who took positions all around the course. Watching and cheering on our fellow community members was exciting and nerve wracking. Continue reading
“King Bacon”
October 10 2010
By Caciques Marianne Foss-Skiftesvik and Augie Cummings
Sunday. A bonding day for all us students here at the island school. The majority of us spent the morning sleeping. As people snored and tossed, the sun implored and started to boss. “Wake up wake up!” its rays called upon us from our dorm windows. Some were weaker than others and gave up the fight with Mr. Sun, and groaningly ate granola. Others braved it out till king bacon, jelly, egg, toast and home fry, beckoned from their steaming thrones, resting among metal castles. North and south face off in a battle of the brave on the football field Continue reading
“Sand and Smiles”
October 8, 2010
by Caciques Jack DeVries and Megan Osborn
Instead of normal run or swim track as our morning exercise we split up into team sports this morning. The choices were yoga, ultimate Frisbee, volleyball, and water polo. Volleyball was held on boys dorm beach during sunrise. We dove into the fluffy sand as we reached for the volleyball flying through the air. Cheers of encouragement rang through the morning air and the sun rose with our intensity for the game. The end of our match covered us all in sand and smiles. This was a refreshing change of the morning routine, which got everyone excited and ready to start the day. After breakfast, we all went off to math, histories, and literature for our morning classes. Histories class was especially interesting today due to our class activity of broadening our cultural perspectives. Continue reading