by Caciques Emily and Charlie

Last night was our Saturday night. We all met at the circle with swim gear under warm clothes, all anticipating a moonlit snorkel and a blazing fire. As we hopped on our beach cruisers without light from our headlamps, we took the bumpy loop road to High Rock.  There was a lot of swerving along the way, with a few songs about falling into potholes and a couple of “Watch out!” exclamations. As all pulled up we started searching for firewood, so we could make a warm bonfire for after our chilly swim. We started up two bonfires- one out on the island rock, and another along the dead rock shore. Once the fires started to crackle one by one we all jumped off high rock, some of us with snorkels and some for fun. Others cozied up in warm clothes like fleeces and fuzzy hats and kept the fires going strong. With the light of a near full moon, we were able to snorkel without flashlights and free dive along the moons reflections on the ocean floor. Upon rubbing on the coral limestone rock, little bioluminuses would come out of hiding at glow bright. It was an adventurous Saturday night, one we will all remember with appreciation.

On the following morning, Continue reading →

by Cacique Claire

Sitting in my solo spot on one of the most beautiful beaches in existence it seemed that the world was perfect. That was until I turned around and saw the pile of trash behind me that had washed up on the beach from Hurricane Irene. In my time in this spot, I had picked up a tiny fraction of the trash and put it into a pile. But, what good was it in a pile? It was organized, and parts of my spot looked neater, but I had done nothing more than transfer the trash to another spot. For the next forty-eight hours I continued to try to pile the trash. I found funny little things including many bottles and a strange little dog toy in the shape of a bear. As I walked away on day three I looked back. Now my spot looked clean of trash, only I knew that behind the bushes was a large pile of garbage I had hidden, but it was there.

I have been thinking of this a lot lately, this whole idea of where our waste goes. The reality of it is that when we throw away our garbage and it disappears into a truck it still sticks around, forever. Our guest artist today Barbra DeVries talked about how when you buy a drink in a bottle we have this idea of just owning the liquid, but we need to own the plastic bottle as well and realize that it will never really go away. When I walked into Barbra’s workshop Saturday, I was astounded. Continue reading →

By Caciques Kate M. and Benji

Today, artist Barbara DeVries visited our art class and talked about her work with upcycling. She began by talking about her first time in Eleuthera when she walked down the beach and was immediately attracted to all the colorful specks on the beach. Although she initially thought all the color was beautiful, she then realized that it was plastic and that it should not be there. She was model and fashion designer all of her life- she mentioned a story about how she designed clothes for Calvin Klein and her clothes were worn by Kate Moss. That is why when she first saw the plastic she was drawn to its many different shapes, colors and textures, because of her background in the fashion industry. She believes that since plastic is so plentiful in our lives, why not make it beautiful? She organizes beach sweeps here on Eleuthera and involves the local community in artistically upcycling plastic. She showed us some of her pieces and it is inspiring to see how she incorporated beach plastic into so many different beautiful creations. Over the course of the next few days we’ll be working with her to create our own plastic creations. Many of us have viewed plastic in the past as just trash, but after having listened to Barbara DeVries many of us were able to view plastic in a new, artistic light.

by Cacique (…and NEW blog chore editor!) Annie Bryan

I was recently chosen to be on what we call “blog chores” here at school. I was so excited when I discovered I was the one who would be able to read other kids’ blogs, and share my ideas with them. I have always loved writing, so this opportunity was really exciting to me. Despite having to nag people to please turn their blogs in every day, the “chore” is a lot of fun and has helped me grow as a writer.

In our literature class this week, we have been assigned a speech. It only has to be one minute in length, but it must be memorized, and it is a speech about a place of importance here at The Island School. We were brainstorming in class, and were prompted to think about a specific place on campus where we had a significant memory. Once we thought of our special spots, we were to write a speech about them, and present the speech in that place on campus.

Personally, I chose the roof of the dining hall for my location. Though I don’t have a specific significant event that happened up there, I chose it because of all of the little memories I hold there. I have spend numerous meals, exploration times, and lazy Sunday afternoons relaxing up there with my friends- talking, laughing and enjoying the gorgeous view. Continue reading →

by Caciques Tori Suslovitch and Tori O’Connor

All forty-eight of us are back on campus after kayak rotations and it’s great to have class with everyone again. A large chunk of time today was spent discussing possible Human Ecology final projects. Students walked around different classrooms and talked about problems, both atIslandSchooland at home, that are worth fixing.  Project ideas ranged from creating a more local food environment at our sending schools to improving both our wind and solar energy consumption around The Island School campus. By the end of our three hour class every student felt confident in the topics they chose to tackle with both the rest of their group and their teacher advisor. It is incredibly exciting to start these projects and it will be very interesting to see how they will progress and see the positive differences that will be made to our community.

by Caciques Simon Mauck and Brian Higgs

 Reflecting on Solo:

During our eight day kayak trips, we spent the fifth and sixth days alone on the beach for forty-eight hours. Each student was spread apart from one another enough to see each other in the distance, but we could not interact. Every student adapted the experience in their own way: some sat in silence on their stretch of beach others used their creativity to find ways to pass the time. Students sometimes sang to themselves or created things on the beach like huts, drawings in the sand, or they played in the water.

Although every student had their own individual experience, we all left the beach with a stronger understanding of ourselves. Having the time to be alone for two days allows people to think more deeply about their lives and themselves. After being in silence for so long, reuniting with the rest of your kayak group was that much more special. Also, being quiet for so long led us to not being able to stop talking once we were together again.

Some of the groups ended up having rain at night or cold winds that chilled them to the bone, but even in stormy weather and cold nights, the solos ended up being an experience that every student felt they learned from.

by Caciques Anika and Lincoln

Reunited at last! Last night K3 and K4 (the second kayak rotation) arrived back on campus after theirDownIslandand kayak trips. Finally, this morning, we had a complete circle, with all 47 members of our community standing around the flagpole, singing the national anthem. After a delicious brunch, many of us biked down to the coffee shop at the marina to exchange stories from our various trips over cookies, cake, and cold drinks. Due to the power problems from the hurricane a couple months ago, the coffee shop had been closed until a few days ago, so it was the first time any of us had gone down to check it out. We all had a great time talking and laughing at each other’s hilarious anecdotes, and some of us were even lucky enough to witness three nurse sharks and a group of remoras swimming in the harbor. It was also a chance for those of us who had stayed on campus the past week to relax after our 8 days of academics. Everyone was thrilled to see each other and have the dorms filled with friends again.

About two months ago, Continue reading →

by Cacique Maddy

Today was a day full of laughter, stories, screams and hugs (in girls dorm). Today we were all reunited with one another after all of our different Kayak and Down Island trips. In honor of being back together we had a big bonfire and Guy Fawkes celebration. Guy Fawkes Day is a british holiday that is celebrated here. Following tradition, we made an effigy and burned it in a huge fire. We also had smores and played music around the fire. Before the bonfire, when the K4 girls came into the dorm some of us were having a dance party, and we all stopped and screamed. It was mayhem as we all rushed forward to give Helen, Clare, Anna, and Annabelle hugs. Everyone got into a big group hug and we all ended up in a heap on the ground. Everyone was laughing as some took pictures of us all huddled there. It was amazing to see everyone together after 3 weeks of separation. Not even the rain that tried to stop our bonfire could dampen our moods that night.

by Caciques Ian and Ellen

Thursday was an expectedly busy and productive day here. We started the day with a long morning exercise, and the two of us on swim-track swam over to the current cut and swam tread-mill style against the current. Tough, but with the super swim coming up we have to keep getting in shape. So, after chores and breakfast, we had morning classes until lunch. After lunch, we all worked on our beach-sweep art project, which is based on finding plastic on the beach and reusing it to make art. After that class, we worked on our Human Ecology projects. A couple of these projects were making a raised-bed herb garden and an osprey nesting project. Lastly, we had the usual exploration time, dinner, and study hours. It was a good day.