Category Archives: Uncategorized

Cacique Update, Uncategorized

Cacique Update October 13, 2011

by Caciques Annie B. and Marius

Annie: Today I was truly inspired. In our Literature class, we had to write a 12 line “Found” poem, relating to the current book we’re reading, Omeros. In a “Found” poem, the idea is to find words or lines from a piece of work that stick out to you, and create a poem out of them. In this assignment, we were told to do this within our most recent assignment of reading from Omeros. Seeing as it wasn’t a graded assignment, I assumed most people would throw 12 lines about Achille’s identity struggles onto a sheet of paper ten minutes before class… but I was wrong. I was in awe as I sat in listening to the poems people had written in class the next day. Everyone had created such incredible pieces, and it really showed me how much people care about this place we’re in. It showed me that we really are in an incredible place with incredible power, and the fact that everyone put so much effort into their work was incredibly inspiring. One poem especially stuck out to me; Jane Drinkard wrote a phenomenal poem referencing the pain and inner struggles that protagonist Achille faced in Omeros. Continue reading →

Cacique Update, Uncategorized

Cacique Update October 10, 2011

by Caciques William and Katie H.

William: Waking up yesterday morning, the only thing on my mind was Morning Exercise. This was the day of our second timed Run/Swim. I thought of countless ways that I could improve my time from the previous Run/Swim. Listening to other students around me I could see that this was everyone’s goal, to do better. I feel that my time here at The Island School has nurtured within me the spirit of self-improvement and that between each student a motivation to cheer each other on. The inspiration to do better seemingly was the theme of the day. Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Eleutheros

This year, the Human Ecology, Histories, and Literature Departments have collaborated on a series ongoing assignments. Each week students are asked to write a reflective essay that demonstrates their understanding of the themes from their coursework and effectively links these themes to their unique thoughts and experiences.  Enjoy reading how our students have deeply and personally engage with essential questions, important to their course of study at The Island School…

This Weeks Prompt:  How does culture affect one’s relationship with the ocean?

“The Glue that Holds Us Together” by Helen Russell

My first memory is at the beach. I was four years old at Bethany Beach, Maryland with my dad’s side of the family and I was playing in the waves with my grandpa. It was the first year that my brother was with us, having been born the previous winter and everyone was obsessed with the baby. Like a typical four-year-old with a new baby in the family, I was feeling pretty neglected. But that day my grandpa had said that he wanted to go to the beach just me and him, to have “grandpa, granddaughter” time. So we make our way to the beach, me with my floaties around my arms and my towel dragging behind me. The only way that I remember all these details is because of pictures I have of myself that summer. So we played in the waves and for the first time in my life, I wondered when the ocean ended. So I asked my grandpa how the blue went on forever and he said that it was like glue that held all the continents together. He said that they were so far apart that the glue had to stretch over the sides of the Earth and that if I could swim all the way out to the horizon, then I could see the next continent. So that was my first definition of the Ocean: the glue that held the continents together. Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Thinking About Design

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Backwards design. It’s something that we think about a lot here, as teachers. Start with the results. What kinds of behaviors and ideas do we want to see in our students after a semester of classes? In Literature, I want to see my students thinking figuratively. I want them to look at the ocean and see more than just an expanse of water that spans 71% of the earth. Though, I want them to see that too. One of my students looks at the sea and thinks about her first memory. In her grandpa’s arms, playing in the waves, he told her that the ocean was the glue that holds us all together. To her, the ocean looks sticky. I want my students to look at the ocean and see the O in Omeros: the white foamy hair of Seven Seas and shells clinking like skulls from bodies lost in the Middle Passage. I want them to see livelihoods there, fishing regulations, conch preservation and conch fritters. I want them to see the first time they were stung by a jelly fish and how that made them feel. I want them to not want to lose these things (even the stingy jellyfish). I want them to look at the ocean see the complexities of an expansive and diverse ecosystem with the capacity to imagine the eventual possibility of a barren waterscape. A floating trash heap the size of Texas bobbing around in the Pacific Ocean. I hope they see that.  Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Lville Office Takes Point Pleasant By Storm

[slideshow] Congratulations to Mary Assini (S00), Hannah Mauck (F04) and Scotty Aland (S05) for their efforts in the Treasure Island Sprint Triathlon this past Sunday, October 2.  All first-timers, the three alumni donned their swim caps, bike shorts, and running shoes and showed ninety other participants what’s up. Mary took silver as the #2 female overall, while Hannah and Scotty took gold in their respective age groups. The shelves of the office are looking mighty shiny these days with some stellar new hardware, and the triathlon world will never be the same…

Congrats team!

–The Island School

Cape Eleuthera Institute, research, Uncategorized

F’11 First Flats Research Update

The Fall 2011 Flats Research program kicked off their first class with Sam Saccomanno, Annie Blanc, Kate Maroni, Tori Suslovitch, Brendan McDonnell, Franklin Rodriguez, and our research advisors, Justin, Liane, and Ally. The focus of our research group is to study and raise awareness about mangrove conservation.
[slideshow]
What are flats and mangroves? Flats are the area between land and sea where there is a broad surface level but shallow depth. Flats can be shallower than just a few centimeters and as deep as 2 meters. Mangroves are a plant species that thrive in the flats ecosystem and are very important on both an ecological and economic level. They are important nursery grounds and breeding sites for birds, fish, crustaceans, shellfish, reptiles and mammals, are renewable source of wood, accumulation sites for sediment, contaminants, carbon and nutrients, and offer protection against coastal erosion. Continue reading →

Alumni, Uncategorized

Middlebury Solar Decathalon Team Finishes Fourth!

Congratulations to Katie Romanov (F’05) and the rest of Team Middlebury College for their impressive finish in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathalon 2011!

[slideshow]

Solar Decathlon is a biennial competition that challenges twenty collegiate teams from around the world to design and build net zero energy houses that are attractive, affordable and entirely solar-powered. Team Middlebury College’s entry, Self-Reliance, received 1st place in three of the ten decathlon contests: communications, home entertainment and market appeal.

As the first undergraduate liberal arts team ever to make it into the finals on their own, Team Middlebury College is extremely proud to have performed as a top contender amongst teams from technical architecture and engineering institutions. Right before the final results announcement in West Potomac Park on Saturday Oct. 1st, the team’s Communications Coordinator Katie Romanov ’11 commented, “If we could finish in the top five, and be the little engine that could, we’d be thrilled!”

 

Read the full press release here!

CEI, research, Uncategorized

F’11 First Lionfish Research Update

By Maddy Philipp and Katie Harpin

[slideshow]
Greetings from the Lionfish Research team! We are now three weeks into the program and have already learned so much. The purpose of our study is to look at how grouper and currents affect the distribution of invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans) found around Cape Eleuthera, Bahamas. So far we have gone on two mock dives. Unfortunately our second one got cut short due to an unexpected thunderstorm. We have also learned how to identify grouper and take the total length of fish from a distance underwater. For one of our classes, we took a trip to CEI and learned how to dissect a lionfish. From the dissection we could see what the lionfish had eaten. We also learned that lionfish can expand their stomachs up to 30 times its normal size. For another class we became scientist for a day and learned the correct structure for scientific papers. We have 3 research classes a week and two of those usually involve fieldwork. Although the readings may be strenuous, the lionfish team is excited to have the opportunity to work alongside biologists and helping to further the worlds knowledge on lionfish.