This past semester, we’ve learned so much. From learning how to read Omeros to learning how to make bush tea from Joseph, we have gained so much knowledge. And yesterday, we had the task demonstrating all of that knowledge within 15 minutes. There was no set format for the demonstration, and so it was amazing to see the creative ways that other students came up with to show what they’v learned. Students made movies, monologues, tours of campus to show what they have learned this semester. One student’s that I especially liked read parts of her journal in certain parts of the semester to show the challenges she faced and how she overcame it. Many of these demonstrations were also emotional, especially because they marked the end of our semester. But I, for the most part, have managed to save the tears for the last day. For my Demonstration of Learning, I took my advisory up to the second floor deck of the faculty offices to reminisce about how far we had come. That same deck was where our advisory first came together in our initial “who am I?” presentations. Now, after three months, it was interesting to see how much we’ve changed, developed, and bonded together.

My time here has been a life-changing experience, Continue reading →

Continuing the trend of lasts, yesterday was our last class for Human Ecology Final Projects. Jack and I finished up our inner loop project. We were finally able to put the signs up around the inner loop and we also cleared up several trails for future explorers. I can’t wait for today’s Human Ecology extravaganza and show what we have accomplished. We will be giving short presentations about each of our projects, on a rotating schedule all afternoon. And, we will be hosting local students guests from Deep Creek Middle School and Central High School.

In the afternoon, I was with my awesome advisory and we worked on our Demonstrations of Learning that we will present together on Monday. The DOLs are our final assessments, showing what we have learned here for the past three months. People can do Power Points, speeches, or any other creative way to express what they have learned.

Afterwards, I went with my kayak group, K2 (wahoooooo) to eat dinner early, and leave for our night dive. Continue reading →

Yesterday was the last full day of classes. Although some of us were sore after the big events over the weekend, we pulled through and were able to wrap up each class very well. Our classes were math, histories, literature, and art. I really enjoyed histories yesterday where we talked about an article from The New Yorker called The Headstrong Historian. It told a story about the colonial past of Nigeria, the impact of the Christian missionaries on the people, and how a family changed because of it. I especially liked this reading because it had a lot to do with the concepts we’ve learned in the Humanities curriculum here. I thought it was interesting to see parallels between the Nigerian family who had sent their children to a Catholic school to learn the ways of the white man in order to regain the land they had lost, and our book from literature, Omeros. A lot of change happens in Omeros with the personal journeys of Achille, one of the main characters, and the author himself. But in the end, amid all the tourism coming into their island of St. Lucia, Achille does not give into tourism and retains his connection to the sea. I appreciate how the concepts from a single class here can inform and enrich our learning in other classes.

Last night during study hours, we also wrote letters to our sending schools to tell them about the experiences we’ve had here. It’s been amazing here, and I can’t believe we only have 9 days left in the semester.

It’s the day after Thanksgiving (Happy Black Friday)! Yesterday at the Island School was a great day. It was full of laughs, giving thanks, as well as classes. In Human Ecology, we continued to work on our final projects. It was great to see each project coming together as the Human Ecology Extravaganza in the upcoming week approaches, where we’ll all be presenting what we’ve accomplished with our group. After classes, the whole community came together dressed up at dinner circle. Each one of us at circle went around saying what we were thankful for. I’m thankful for the opportunity to be here at the Island School and to be part of such a wonderful community.

After giving thanks, we all sat down in the dining hall. The walls of the dining hall were decorated with the hand turkey drawings we made, as well as the final touches of the Caciques and faculty. Continue reading →

Yesterday for our girls dorm activity, we practiced yoga and relaxation with Sharon, the new Director of Admissions for Island School, who was down here for Parents Weekend.  All 27 of us had our towels lined up on the dining hall deck, ready to relax after a long, and sometimes stressful, weekend.  She first instructed us on how to breathe correctly, inhaling through the nose, and then exhaling for twice as long through the mouth. Then we started with some yoga poses, holding each one for a few minutes to so our bodies could calm down and get relaxed.  I am not usually the biggest fan of yoga because I have terrible balance and flexibility, but I really enjoyed this because it was about relaxing and not just about accomplishing certain poses.

After completing the yoga poses, we did a relaxation exercise, Continue reading →