Dale Lattanzio:

During the first week of my semester at The Island School there have been a variety of occasions when I have felt tired, excited, overwhelmed, dirty, intrigued, exuberant, and challenged. In one week I have Kayaked about fifteen miles, become scuba certified, taken part in my first run swim, danced while doing dishes, and received more bug bites than I thought possible. This first week has been very emotional. Being cut off from all outside contact has been challenging, yet helpful for me to dig deeper into the lives of my new peers. Despite all these magical experiences there was one moment where I truly felt dumbfounded. During our three-day kayak trip we visited a blue hole. I am truly amazed by all marine life; the ocean is my passion. When I see fish in little classroom aquariums I get excited, so you cannot fathom my delight and enthusiasm during our many dives and snorkels. When I snorkeled over the edge of the blue hole the gaping cliff immediately grasped my undivided interest. Until this point I had only dreamt of seeing an offshore ledge or anything of such vast underwater structure. As the group explored the vast biodiversity surrounding us, the “ledge” that towered the reefs surrounded by its walls captivated me. After repeated free dives I finally managed to get low enough to see under the ledge and into the cavern that it created. As I descended into the dark blue wonderland I periodically equalized my ears. Suddenly my heart stopped, I felt as it my heart had been squeezed like a sponge. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, a school of large jack crevalles circled below me. Before I could comprehend my bursting emotions my burning lungs forced me to resurface. I was panting at the surface in disbelief. Had I just seen my first jack? Although to many this may seem like just another fish, I was perplexed. A powerful fighter, jacks are known as a game fish with little table fare. Their elegance and beauty as a predator has always captivated me; I couldn’t believe that they were swimming below me as I caught my breath. I free dove again and again taking in their every move. I couldn’t believe that after years of dreaming (literally) about these marvelous creatures, I had finally experienced their grace first hand. These kinds of experienced are what have made The Island School such an inspirational educational institution for all its students. I am looking forward to my further explorations into the marine life that encompass me.

Ella Hartshorn:

This weekend we went on a three-day kayak trip. I have kayaked before and I have camped, but never together. What was really new for me however was making a fire with completely foreign and new material. I consider myself somewhat of a fire master and making fires are my favorite part of camping trips. If I have matches, a lighter, or some other type of fire starter I can make a smoking fire (pun intended.) That’s definitely something I’m proud of because I have never failed to make a fire, or save some else’s fire from going out. However this weekend, I failed miserably.

It all started with a rainstorm, so everything we were working with was wet, which is nothing new as I have made fires with wet wood before. Along with wet wood, it was super windy and our matches kept blowing out, so we spent some time building a large fire pit. We then spent the first twenty minutes unsuccessfully trying to light pine needles and dead palm branches. Meanwhile, our accompanying faculty advisors (Brady and Vienna,) had already made their fire and were cooking their dinner; they offered help, but of course we wanted none of that. We spent fifteen minutes shredding wood shavings and crumpling palm hairs into a very dry nest for our fire to start. When that didn’t work we consented to use a lighter. Finally the shredded palms caught fire; Duncan and I leaned down to blow on the baby flame and we succeeded in snuffing out the only flame we had managed to make the entire night. At this point Brady asked again if we needed help and everyone said yes except for me. When it comes to challenging tasks especially ones that involve fire I become very prideful and I don’t like to accept help. So Brady let us continue to struggle with the fire and by us I mean just me, because everyone else wanted to eat dinner before midnight. So after about an hour of struggling to make this stupid fire that should have taken me five minutes, Brady stepped in because a storm was coming and she made a fire in about two seconds.

I’m not sure if I will ever forgive Brady. At that point I would have rather stayed up all night so I could make a fire that had now become a personal battle. However, I think the rest of my kayak group wanted to eat dinner before it became impossible. I was feeling a little resentful, kind of like I had just lost a game, but then Brady told me she hoped it was okay that she had helped make the fire.  After she said that it made me realize that she did understand the seriousness of this situation and of the battle I had just lost, and that in her own and possibly intended way had told me it was okay to ask for help and that it wouldn’t be viewed as a surrender. I know I have only been here a week but I feel like The Island School has already helped me to become a more mature person with the ability to ask for help, because every victor has had a little help somewhere along the road.

Elsa Dickenson Davis:

Despite living along the Appalachian trail, camping is something that I am not very familiar with, so the nights of my three day kayak trip were filled with very new experiences for me. Continue reading →

Callie McMahon:

Going out of their way to make you confused is part of the faculties’ job here at The Island School. In circle one morning Kate explained a comfort chart using rope to designate different areas of comfort as a way for us gauge our emotions. The middle represents something totally comfortable, “I do it everyday.” Then sort of comfortable, “I might do this.” Then there is the learning zone, where you can move closer to the middle through learning a new skill. The last one, of course, is the complete freak-out zone. Here at The Island School most things keep me in the learning zone. Our dorm-head Brady said on the first day, “I know it’s really tempting to cling to one person just because you met them on the plane and you’re safe with them, but it’s more important to stitch yourself out.”

Brady later taught, dare I say, my favorite history class ever. We had a big Harkness discussion and I learned from students and teachers about the history of the Americas. On the kayak trip, this same Brady came with me to spend three days without a shower to experience some beautiful underwater environments. She has helped me to stay safe and tidy in my home, helped me learn about the past of this place in my school, and helped me to be curious in fascinating surroundings. John is a fantastic math teacher, but he also gave me a tour of the campus, taught me how to monitor the cisterns, and we fed the stinky pigs together. Leigh is my advisor and checks up on me, but he’s also the human ecologies teacher and is married to my art teacher, and he does all of the morning exercises with us. The list goes on forever…

Never before in my life have I had teachers that I can interact with like this on so many levels. It blows my mind to be sweating bullets next to the same people who do the dishes with me and teach my English class. It always makes me uncomfortable when people refer to this as school. After scuba diving today, for example, Rachel told us to head back to school. Everything in my mind is telling me this is home. This the first time I’ve heard school used as a term to describe where you eat, sleep, explore, learn, and have fun.

Duncan MacGregor:

After such a magical first day of morning exercise, I didn’t know that it could get any better than snorkeling to a wreck with some of the coolest and most exquisite people in the world. Much to my surprise however, the third morning at The Island School was even better than the first: We had a run swim. For those of you who don’t know what a run swim is, it’s one of the best full body cardio workouts. It consists of running a short distance to a waterway, which you then swim across, and then run to the next waterway. On this certain morning, the run swim was only half of the official run swim course, but it still pushed many of us to the brink of exhaustion. We started our run swim by swimming across the harbor to the opposite shore. From there, we ran soaking wet to a small inlet, which we crossed mightily. At the shore Chris Maxey put us through some of the hardest abdominal exercises I’ve ever done. Many of my mates and I assumed we had reached the pinnacle of our run swim, and that we would now head back to school – I was surprised again – much to my chagrin, we had just began. This grueling and repetitive process carried on for the next hour. To narrow it down, the next hour was run, swim, abs, run, etc… In the moment, I was miserable. I felt like my bones would break, and that I simply couldn’t do it anymore.  Thinking back upon that first run swim morning, I am so happy to have experienced something so incredible.  I’m sure once I go home I’ll look back on the morning run swims and wish that I could be back in the Bahamas doing intense workouts with some of the coolest people in the world. Running and swimming with the sunset at your back is one of the most incredible experiences in life.

Asher Dawson:

My name is Asher Dawson, and I was asked to try to explain one of my many memorable experiences so far at The Island School. Notice how I say, “try to explain,” as the emotions and my mentality will be hard to convey. The first moment that came to mind was one of my two nights on a down-island kayak trip. The trip was set up to transport six boys, six girls, and two staff members roughly six miles down the coast of Eleuthera. We kayaked for about four hours, and to say that finding the camping spot was a ‘relief’ would be an understatement. Once we arrived, we set up boys and girls tents, ate a lunch consisting of stale crackers, watery cheese, and musty tuna, which at the time was delicious. The next day and a half were spent cooking, eating, kayaking to snorkel a blue-hole, and even a little bit of sleep. Nearing the end of our second day, after just finishing dinner and fireside s’mores, we were just about ready to crawl into our tents when we saw the sky light up for a split second. After counting thirty-two seconds, a role of thunder informed us that a storm was approaching from about six miles away. After brushing as much sand as we could off of our feet, and swatting as many possible bugs as we could inside our tent, we laid down onto a fresh memory-foam-like sand bed. The six boys were split up into two tents, and, being boys, it’s fair to say that we didn’t put the entirety of our effort into securing the tents into the sand. As we sat and talked in the darkness of our tent, flashes continued to illuminate our faces. Then the rain started and suddenly sheets of water weighed down the frame of our poorly constructed tent, to the point at which the tent was practically useless. I’m not sure how many of you reading this know how tents/rain flies work, but the basic principle behind them is that as long as the rain fly doesn’t actually touch the exterior of the tent itself, you can’t get wet. Now, with the combined power of torrential downpours and extraordinary wind, I still can’t be certain whether or not a proper tent construction would have made a difference at this point. To be honest, I would have been fine sleeping wet (unhappy, but fine). The wind was the most prominent factor in the eventual evacuation of our tent. When I finally exited the tent, the rising tide was near my feet. Only a few feet away was my friend Clem (whose blog you should read to learn another perspective of this experience) was screaming “THROW LOGS ON THE TENT!” I’m not certain how or why we did this, but there was something about being in the moment and the vicious wind and sideways rain that made this request seem legitimate. I soon realized that I was in fact the only thing holding the tent in place, and since I had evacuated, the only thing that seemed plausible to replace my weight, was a small tree. (Read Clem Titsworth’s continued entry) Continue reading →

The last few days, as half of the new fall semester was out exploring south Eleuthera on their 3-Day Kayak Trips, the other half of students remained on campus to become SCUBA certified, a big Island School first. Last night, students were asked to reflect on the many first experiences they have already had in their one short, but seemingly unending first week at Island School. In the coming days, enjoy a series of student-written reflections on the many new things they are learning and doing in this very new place.

Alliea Campbell:
WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO? Sixty-second showers, run-swims and waking up at six A.M are not what I was looking forward to. So far this week has been ridiculously hard, not to mention that I have never in my life done this much exercise…ever. Looking like I just swallowed a whole grape and panting like crazy, meanwhile the others are hooping around and screaming “yeah!” the whole time during exercise. The only thing on my mind at that point is how do I get away from these crazy people? I am definitely out of my element but I then think about how hard I worked to get where I am, so I suck it up and move forward with the team. But I guess it was all worth the struggle since I am now a certified diver! Scuba diving threw a few challenges my way but after getting the hang of things I came to really enjoy the exercise, and on my third dive, I was in awe that I was actually exploring the beauty of our waters firsthand. Every day is a new challenge waiting for a soldier to take over. Well I’ve surely been that soldier all week, have you?

Will Sherwin:
Today was the first time I have ever seen an Eagle Ray in the wild. It was an amazing experience to be down on the bottom of the sea floor doing scuba skills and gazing over to see this great creature, paying no attention to us, merely gliding along as though it was out for a morning stroll. I watched it until it disappeared into the vast blue ocean as we returned to our scuba skills. The whole rest of the day I couldn’t get that amazing image out of my head, it was so big and beautiful and I wish I could know where it was going. It wasn’t just the Ray that made my jaw drop with awe; everything in the sea, no matter how big or small just fascinated me. Not having to come up for air was an amazing feeling. Sadly however, all great things must come to an end.

Ali Greenberg:
A horn alarm at six in the morning is not the most pleasant sound to wake up to. Also, it was only the third morning and I was a bit disoriented waking up in a room with thirteen other girls. I had to be down at circle in thirty minutes ready for a “run-swim.” I didn’t know what a “run-swim” really was, and being in a new place, I was preparing myself for this morning exercise to expect the unexpected. None of the staff told us how long this exercise would be, where we were going, or the level of difficulty… man, I was nervous. This “run-swim” was my first, ever. Once we arrived down at the circle, we were told that we needed a “run-swim” buddy; that instantly made me feel more relaxed. Before I knew it I was swimming in the current cut right next to my buddy, Maya. Throughout the entirety of morning exercise the group made sure that everyone was there and going at a pace at which everyone could keep up. This “run-swim” was not as difficult as I prepared myself for it to be. Finishing this exercise all before seven thirty in the morning put me in a state of awe. Trying this “run-swim” for the first time reminded me why I was here, at The Island School. It reminded me that I will be trying new things every day while I am here and I need to go into each new experience with an open mind.

Eliza Keene
I’m sure that there have been times in school, at home, and everywhere else that I have been told to watch my surroundings. My mom tells me almost every day Continue reading →

The last few days, as half of the new fall semester was out exploring south Eleuthera on their 3-Day Kayak Trips, the other half of students remained on campus to become SCUBA certified, a big Island School first. Last night, students were asked to reflect on the many first experiences they have already had in their one short, but seemingly unending first week at Island School. In the coming days, enjoy a series of student-written reflections on the many new things they are learning and doing in this very new place.

Carly Shea:

The first day here a teacher told us to pick up a handful of sand and then made everyone talk to it. I seriously thought it was the weirdest thing ever. Never before have I seen teachers so enthusiastic about teaching us to understand where we live.  I learned it’s impossible to ask enough questions. I have experienced more firsts in a week at the Island School than I have in my entire life. I ate lionfish for the first time, went for a week without a cell phone in my pocket, and woke up to see the sunrise every single day. I have set a new personal record for most amount of time with salty hair and sandy toes. I have never had legs covered in so many bug bites or swam with a shark. I persevered through my first run swim, cleaned a boat and did dishes for an entire community all before breakfast one morning. I’ve lived away from home before, SCUBA dived, and even been stung by a jellyfish but I have never come across anything like the Island School.

Inayah Bashir:

Arising each morning at 6:10 a.m. to the beep of my wristwatch, I sit in bed contemplating what made me want to come here. There hasn’t been a morning when I didn’t have a shared excitement and fear of what was to happen in the day ahead, but the morning of scuba diving I woke up more pumped to begin my day than any other. As I walked to the boathouse and learned to set up my gear, it definitely decreased my level of excitement and was then replaced with the nervous feeling that has become quite recurrent in my Island School experience, perhaps too recurrent for my liking. Everything began immediately; I was submersed in waves with fish and STING RAYS. I took my first UNDERWATER breath and all I could think was Allah bless me, I want to be able to stand on land again and breathe in city air with my family by my side. It was an experience that took a lot of adjustment and made me question why I decided to be here, and not at home with my beautiful family and heated showers. This is a question that I continuously ask myself and I am gradually coming to understand that I am here to learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Gray Murray Hill:

Our second workout at The Island School was a run-swim exercise. We started at the center of the compound in a circle around the flagpole and sang the Bahamian National Anthem. We then ran around a circle a few times led by the head of school, John Schatz. Leaving campus, we ran along the fingers of land reaching out into the crystal clear waters of this humid tropical place. After running over one finger, we would reach a cut of ocean between us and the next finger. Encouraged to complete the run to swim transition without hesitation, we would plunge into the waters and fight towards the other side. Feeling for the land ahead, we would push up and attempt another transition. On the last cut, a wall around five feet above the water line loomed over us. Challenged to get over the wall, most of us accomplished the task and proceeded to run to the Current Cut. Jumping into the swiftly moving stream sans floatation, we guided ourselves with hands and feet, exited and ran to a cliff towards school. After the ten foot drop, we swam to the nearest finger and reversed the exercise back to camp. Feeling awake and ready to move on, we weren’t done until we had touched the flag pole where we started.

Chase Haylon:

The only thing more foreign to me than being awake at 6:30 AM is exercising at 6:30 AM, while that is difficult, I somehow managed to wake up on time for this morning’s run-swim.

Continue reading →