The Island School is excited to announce the launch of Island School Street View! You can now take virtual tours of The Island School, Cape Eleuthera Insitute, and Center for Sustainable Design campuses, as well as iconic locations around the Cape as if you were there! To move througout the tours, pan around the “photosphere” and click on the hovering arrows or circles located on the screen.
The Island School Campus Tour has six locations throughout the tour: The Flag Circle, Entrance, Boathouse, Dining Hall, Boy’s Dorm, & Boy’s Dorm Beach.
Cape Eleuthera Institute has four locations: CEI Entrance, The Wetlab, CEI Walkway, & Hallig House.
The rest (DCSM, The Sand Bar, The Offshore Aquculture Cage, Cathedral Rock, Scuba Class on the Cobia, and Weirda Bridge) can be found on main Island School profile page on Google Maps.
On Wednesday, February 19, we were pleased to host Mr. Arthur Croady and Mrs. Esther Blair from the TK Foundation on campus. The TK Foundation is our largest Bahamian supporter and helps makes the great work we do at DCMS and with the BESS program possible. Their day-long visit featured tours of campus sustainable systems, class visits to DCMS and discussions with researchers and educators about their experiences and future outreach programs.
Hours of practice and hard work paid off for Deep Creek Middle School students last Saturday night at The 2014 Eleuthera Jr. Junkanoo held in Governors Harbour. Accompanying DCMS for the first time, the pre-schoolers at The Island School’s Early Learning Center joined in the annual competition, leading the group down the new Queen’s Highway route. The group took home top prize in the Junior High category finishing with 948 points. Congratulations team!
Below is a photo essay highlighting their journey:
(Photographs by Erik Kruthoff and Will Strathman)
A late night pasting session at DCMSMr. Will Simmons, a teacher at DCMS, served as leader of the group
A DCMS student pastes a head pieceMembers of the entire Island School Community lent a hand in preparing for the event.DCMS students teaching the ELC pre-schoolers the proper steps.Practicing in front of schoolPracticing at The Island School.Cowbells and drums. The signature sound of JunkanooFor many of the ELC students, this was their first Junkanoo rush.A student tries his hand at the trumpet.Dancers practicing.
After-school drum practice.A student dancer showing off his moves.A volunteer pastes a shoulder piece.Adding the preschoolers to the group made for some laughs.Assembling the group on the day of the competition.Mr. Simmons making last-minute preparations.DCMS dancers pose for a group shot.Drums are warmed up next to a bonfire.DCMS drummer crew.A male dancer shows off his costume.Ready to go.The Early Learning Center students lead the way, showcasing the school’s core values: Exploration, Individuality, Creativity, Growth, and Imagination.The DCMS Banner “The Future Leaders of the Bahamas” with their core values: Responsible Citizenship, Leadership, and Academic Growth.Lead dancers with the banner.DCMS dancers.DCMS Core Values “Graduates”“Prime Ministers of The Bahamas” piece.A colorful shoulder piece.DCMS brass section.Trumpet player in the brass section.DCMS Trombone player.“School of First Choice” shoulder piece.Dancers with cowbells and scrapers.
DCMS Drummers.
Drummers beat out the unrelenting sound of Junkanoo.DCMS & ELC took home top place for the Junior High category, finishing with 948 points.
Ryan Schendel and Jake Varsano (F’12) put Recover Brand t-shirts to the test by wearing them during morning exercise.
When we unveiled our updated Island School logo last fall, we also got to work on updating the Island School uniform to match. In fact, it was two Island School alumni who really got the ball rolling. During their Fall 2012 semester, Ryan Schendel and Jake Varsano decided to take on this daunting task as their Human Ecology final project. Determined to not only live, but also wear, The Island School’s mission to live well in a place, they began to contact vendors and test products. By the end of the Fall 2012 semester, they finally found their match in Recover Brands, a small eco-clothing start-up based out of Asheville, North Carolina that shares our same devotion to conserving the environment. We are excited to announce our partnership with Recover Brands, and introduce their products, made from 100% recycled apparel. We also continue to be proud of our students’ efforts to be leaders effecting change, especially once they leave The Island School.
“Jake and I saw an opportunity to apply the sustainability factor of The Island School campus to the clothing we wear – this was a chance to take responsibility of the origins of our uniforms and campus clothes and recognize the impact our clothes had on the environment. I think the project was and will continue to be successful because now Island School students can be proud of the clothes they wear every day because they know the story, know their environmental footprint, and see a continuation of the campus sustainability from the moment they put their shirt on.
As for me, I know after I got my Recover IS shirt, it reminded me of our sustainable campus. Every time I put it on at home, I remember how it’s different from my other shirts, and it reminds me of Island School’s sustainability. I think it’s important in the future for IS students to learn about Recover and their clothing, just like when we got a campus tour of our sustainable systems. This way, their IS clothing can have an impact, just like it does for me.” –Ryan Schendel F’12
“I am proud to say this new clothing brings The Island School another step closer to its mission of sustainability. I hope our project inspires future students to aim their projects towards something they feel passionate about and are confident will help improve our campus, allowing it to be the best model of sustainability possible. I would also like to note the efforts that were put in on campus by all who helped once Ryan and I went home. To quote Maxey, ‘It is not about the guy with the idea, it is about the guy who recognizes the idea and helps run with it.’ Well, something like that. It is time that we started wearing our mission!” –Jake Varsano F’12
Wind generator at CHRHS, procured and funded by students.
This past weekend, Chris Maxey was invited to be the graduation speaker at Camden Hill Regional High School in Camden Hills, Maine. CHRHS has been sending groups of students down to The Island School during the summer for the past few years to participate in primary research with marine biologists. Like during The Island School semester, they will work as a team, earn high school credit and become part of an intentional sustainable community. Senior class president at CHRHS, Alex Crans, who got to know Chris Maxey quite well during his visit to The Island School last summer, asked him to be the speaker because of his energy and the admiration people have for him. You can read more about the relationship The Island School has with Camden Hills and other Maine Atlantic communities here.
Also during his time in Maine, Chris had the opportunity to connect with alumni and friends in the area. Here he is with Cooper FItzGerald (S’09) at Dou’s Fish and Chips, the take out restaurant Cooper is working at this summer before heading to school at Colorado College.
Chris caught up with Island School and Vinalhaven High School graduates, Willie Drury (S’10) and Izza Drury (S’11).
And finally, he enjoyed an early morning lake swim with parents of Sarah Haselton (S’13), George and Eliza Haselton.
Last week, members of The Island School were present at the opening of SEEP’s (South Eleuthera Emergency Partners) second Emergency Operation Center (EOC) in South Eleuthera. SEEP is a “community-led organization that serves and enriches the communities of South Eleuthera by providing fire and medical transport services, as well as community outreach programs.” The vision of SEEP is to create “safer communities by establishing a network of emergency operation centers that provide essential community services. This will lead to community growth, as well as economic development which will continue to benefit future generations.”
According to an article on the opening, published in The Eleutheran, members of the South Eleuthera communities, as well as some as far north as James’ Cistern “came out to celebrate the official commissioning of the new center and to witness the handing over ceremony for the Fire Truck–to the Royal Bahamas Police Force…The new Weymss Bight EOC facility will provide under-served communities in the surrounding South Eleuthera area with emergency fire, ambulance vehicles and operations space. This new facility will also eliminate twenty-five minutes from the driving time necessary to reach the surrounding South Eleuthera communities from the present EOC facility located in Tarpum Bay, according to [Shaun] Ingraham”, CEO and Founder of One Eleuthera Foundation. Ingraham went on to tell The Eleutheran that the “long-term goal for the site is to make the EOC multi-functional to include several other community programs…including farmer’s markets, shared craft workshop facilities and a community meeting space”.
On April 18, we brought together educators, scientists, government officials, developers, resort operators, and stakeholders on Eleuthera to learn from past experiences and chart new territory for tourism products and sustainable development. Here are some of the highlights from the day-long symposium.
Congratulations to Dave Barra on completing his marathon swim from Lighthouse Point all the way to Powell Pointe yesterday, a feat Chris Maxey contends is a first for any human. Dave completed the swim under guidelines established by the Channel Swimming Association and his journey lasted just under 14 hours. This is not Dave’s first visit to Eleuthera and The Island School campus; previously he has come to give workshops on Total Immersion Swimming and is planning on hosting another workshop in December (so mark your calendars!).
Special thank you to all the IS and CEI staff who provided boat support along the way!
Through introductions from our friends at Nobles, we had the opportunity to visit an inspiring educational program. Kliptown Youth Program in South Africa is bringing hope to the next generation of young people growing up in one of the most poor Soweto neighborhoods in the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Chris Maxey with Thulani and Thando at Noble & Greenough this January
