by: Team Acult Research: Lea Luniewicz, Nate Smith-Ide, Gian Paul Graziosi, Catharine Pirie and Augi Cummings

Yet another gripping scuba dive, but this time it took us into uncharted waters. This place was straight out of a dream, a reef full of undefined beauty, elegant in its voluptuous ways. As we sunk into the deep mystic realm full of our petite gobies, our eyes were drowning in magnificence. Immediately, the hunt was on. As we applied our war paint, preparing for battle, we spotted a little bugga amongst us. With a blind eye, he reached down and captured the beast its self. This brave warrior was named Augie. Gian Paul, his companion in crime, swam near, and found his own arduous battle. Their sidekicks, Lea, Cathy, and Nate were also successful in the goby hunt. They all arrived at the surface with a whopping FIVE GOBIES. Leaving Poseidon’s Chamber, smiles filled the damp boat. Gleaming with joy we debriefed as proud soldiers, just another day on the job. Now with 13 gobies in the wetlab we expect them to begin pairing soon.

With love, Acult Team Goby Force.

I was complaining again to Pam about how airlines do not recycle anything and she said — why don’t you do something about it. I am asking everyone to think about joining me and writing companies anytime you see waste that does not have to happen — maybe through the blog we can share these stories and leverage our collective interest in effecting change — please feel free to join me and send a message to Mr. Parker
Mr. Douglas Parker
CEO
US Airways
douglas.parker@usairways.com

Dear Mr. Parker,

I just had the opportunity to fly with your company to a conference up at Middlebury College focused on sustainability. I had a nice conversation with one of your flight attendants who agreed with me. She really did not have any idea why the company was not at least recycling aluminum cans. My idea is that you should go all the way and serve in corn starch cups and use recycled napkins — go all the way and then you can tout yourself as the first really green airline because nobody is recycling that I know of. I do know that I and many others would be happy to pay more to fly green knowing that you US Air people were invested in the future.

I also recommend that you read a great book by Ray Anderson. Like you he was once the CEO of a massive company that really did not think green at all. His book called Midcourse Corrections could be a book about you and US Airways — that would be great!!!.

I hope that you think about this advice and if there is anything that I can do to help, please let me know. We
have an army of young people out there that want to see a different kind of world.

Thanks my friend,

Chris Maxey

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This weekend Chris Maxey traveled to Middlebury, VT to speak at a student organized TEDx conference, themed “How We Started:From Idea to Impact.”  Chris spoke about how he came up with the idea to start The Island School and his belief in the idea that schools should “go to work.” While in Vermont, Chris was excited to meet up with several alums including Andrea Whittle (S07), Sam Dawson (F04), Katie Romanov (F05), and Doug Parizeau (S06).

“Our New Families in The Bahamas”

October 3, 2010

By Caciques Taylor Schendel and Will Overman

            This weekend the entire student body spent their time off campus living with their homestay parents. For the majority of us, this was a new experience, and leading up to Friday afternoon there was some serious trepidation. Taylor and I spent our time in Deep Creek with veteran homestay parents. Taylor stayed with Nehemiah and I stayed with Donnalee. The weekend was full of authentic Bahamian cuisine consisting of succulent lobster, sweet conch, and yellow snapper that would rival that of the gods. Continue reading →

We’re all different here at The Island School.  Some of us were born to run; some of us enjoy a refreshing swim.  There are those who delight in Mondays and Fridays, days on which alternative exercises are scheduled: team sports, biking the inner loop, or yoga.

It’s all about finding the right AM pick-me-up.  What does Fritter suggest?  Sleep track.

As always, “Fritter Sleeping Places” will be updated weekly for your visual enjoyment and personal enlightenment.  Can’t wait a week?  Sorry.  Fritter is asleep somewhere and is not currently accepting messages.  Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Fritter, whose only concern is with the time of dinner.

by Meaghan & Marianne

High winds and a strong current did not stop our patch reef research group from collecting data this past Friday. A shift in plans from going out on Kenny T resulted in a group bike ride to Fourth Hole beach. There, the eight of us geared up with our masks, snorkels and dive slates. As soon as we made it to the reef, we began to record the species we had just learned in class. Only three weeks into the program, we are able to identify over Continue reading →

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“Lionfish!”

The mixture of emotions that this one word evoked was evident: anticipation, excitement, respect.

This exotic-looking fish was unintentionally introduced to The Bahamas as a result of hurricane Andrew in 1992.  Apparently, a few red lionfish escaped from a home aquarium into the ocean during the destruction caused.  Without any natural predators in the local area, the lionfish population has exploded.  Part of our research is to better understand how this invasive species is interacting and possibly influencing our local environment.

Today, after careful preparation, our task is to live-capture a lionfish.  We hope to dissect Continue reading →

“Ecology Class Adventures”

September 29, 2010

By Caciques Scott Endzel and Catharine Pirie

As half of us met in the boathouse nervously waiting for what our scuba instructors Ian and Kristen were going to teach us, we set up our equipment. As we sat awaiting instruction, they began teaching us how to maneuver with our compasses. They laid out lesson plans for the class, so that we could achieve our Advanced Open Water certificates, which consist of many underwater adventures. We headed out on the Red Rising and Kenny T to triangle cut. As we back rolled into the murky water we were swarmed by jellyfish. The stings in the face and through our rash gaurds did not stop us as we slowly descended with our buddies and began our underwater navigation. The small harmless jellyfish, though shocking, barely made a mark as we navigated through the water. We split up into buddy pairs and had to navigate ourselves in a 50 by 50 square. Continue reading →