Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Time to Reflect

As defined in our first Literature reading assignment of the semester, The Rediscovery of North America by Barry Lopez, querencia “refers to a place on the ground where one feels secure, a place from which one’s strength of character is drawn – a place in which we know exactly who we are.” Its importance is such that “our search for querencia is both a response to threat and a desire to find out who we are. And the discovery of querencia hinges on the perfection of a sense of place.”

Photo by Mackenzie Howe
Photo by Mackenzie Howe

The Island School strongly emphasizes the importance of having a sense of place for a specific area and having time to reflect on our personal doings and think about the meaning within the beautiful place we are living for these three months. By this idea we are encouraged to find our own querencia or place where we feel most at home. Island School students got their first exposure to what querencia really means when we chose our personal spots this past Thursday. We were given three hours for our first querencia time to find our spot and reflect upon three writing prompts exemplifying our natural history, personal narrative and descriptive writing.

Photo by Mackenzie Howe
Photo by Mackenzie Howe

Many of us were able to find our querencia spots rather quickly, but I on the other hand, had trouble finding the perfect place that I wanted to be connected to. I tried three spots before finally settling on a place on the white sand of No-Name Harbor where I was able to feel completely alone. I had never explored much of the island before, so when finding my spot, I tried to lose myself in the overgrown back-roads eventually leading me to the beach. After having ample time to decompress and reflect upon the past busy week, I started my journey back to campus which I found to be much more difficult than my bike ride there. I attempted taking a different route thinking that it would get me home quicker but got lost multiple times. Thankfully I eventually found myself at the entrance of campus again. After much thought, I realized the virtue of my spot being so remote; although I was lost in the woods, I could confide in the fact that my querencia spot was far away from anyone else where I could truly reflect by myself and work on my “perfection of a sense of place.”

By, Mackenzie Howe

Breathing Underwater, Ghost Stories, and other Adventures

I was in K3 this week, meaning that on last Friday I began my 3 days of Scuba training and on Monday I left for my 3 day kayak trip. The first day of Scuba was tough, we practiced basic skills in girl’s dorm cut and tried unsuccessfully to avoid the hordes of jellies which live there. 

The next couple days were much better, though, as we watched ourselves improve exponentially. We explored beautiful dive sites like Tunnel Rock and Something to Sea, saw barracudas, lionfish, and sharks, and mastered difficult skills like swimming without a mask underwater and breathing using your buddy’s alternate air source. Now we are proud and certified scuba divers and we can’t wait to keep seeing new sites and getting better.

Photo by Jake Atwood
Photo by Jake Atwood
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Photo by Jake Atwood
Photo by Jake Atwood
Photo by Jake Atwood

After scuba my group set out on our 3 day kayak trip.

K3!
K3!

We paddled miles and miles and ended up getting as far away as the Rock Sound airport. The days were sunny and beautiful and my group didn’t even get that sunburned. We also took breaks during the day to snorkel and free dive some blue holes where we saw a 12 foot nurse shark, 40 inch barracuda, and too many sting rays to count. When we got to camp we enjoyed hanging around on the beach and at night we heard some great ghost stories around the campfire from Braden and Vienna.

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Overall, it was a great trip and I can’t wait for the 8 day kayak later this semester.

by Jake Atwood

Making Friends, Making a Difference

Yesterday we all loaded up the four vans and headed over to Deep Creek Middle School to meet our buddies and learn about our community outreach projects. My buddy, Tallia, and I bonded over having the same birthday, July 18th.

Me and my Buddy
Community Outreach Buddies!

We went around to three stations to play games and get to know our buddy a little more. The first station a character or thing was put on our back without us seeing and we had to figure it out.

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Meeting our Buddies

At the second station we played drama games like the mirror game where we had to make slow movements so the other can follow.

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Playing games!

The third station was where we all got a map of the others country and showed them where we live and talked about the different activities in our towns.

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One thing I learned was that my buddy was a Miami Heat fan so we had a little spat because the Celtics are clearly the best!

After going to all of the stations our buddies got into their groups and explained the service projects they came up with and were passionate about. Some of them were about stray dogs, child abuse, lack of food and cutting down the invasive Casaurina tree. Each ninth graders plans a project and gets the help of an eighth grader and a seventh grader.

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Learning about our community outreach projects

After bonding with our buddies they had to get to advisory so the Island School students stood in a circle and went around saying what was the most special part of our time with our buddies. As hard as it was to leave we were excited to go on a trip to the beach!

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Circling up outside of DCMS

By, Olivia Wigon

Our First Look at The Island School

Early in the morning we all said goodbye to our family, friends, and old way of thinking. Waving goodbye to our parents from security was something many found to be extremely hard. For several, this was the first time they would fly alone or be away from home. Luckily, most of us found other students on the planes and befriended each other with ease and excitement. Abby was lucky to make the flight since she caught it with only ten seconds to spare. Although some of us were a little awkward and nervous getting through the airport we all eventually made it here safe and sound with all of our bags. It took some peoples bags a few days to arrive, like our dear friend Gretta . When asking students about their arrivals the common theme was stressful, but everyone said it was 110% worth it and they are ecstatic to be here.

One of the first experiences at The Island School was gathering around the flagpole.
One of the first experiences at The Island School was gathering around the flagpole.

Now, we’re here!  Arriving to the Island School has been an unreal experience.   There’s been so much going on since we stepped off the plane.  Everyone is so fun and friendly!  It’s been quite hectic with orientation starting up as soon as we got here.  The first night we arrived, we all gathered in the boathouse to hear the head of school, John Schatz, introduce The Island School and give us a glimpse into our 100 day semester.  He told us that The Island School is a place where we shouldn’t have many expectations but to expect that it’s going to be an incredible experience.  He said that one of his primary roles here as the head of school is to confuse us, which confused us.  During his talk he also said that The Island School and its faculty are here to help change our perspective and that it’s going to be a mentally and physically challenging 100 days.  It was nerve wracking to hear but exciting at the same time.

We spent a lot of time getting oriented in the presentation room.
We spent a lot of time getting oriented in the presentation room.

Every morning we’ve been getting up before 6:30am to meet for morning circle and do morning exercise.  The first morning we snorkeled Boys Dorm beach and got our first marine ecology class.  We saw and learned about sea urchins, starfish, brittlestars, sea cucumbers, a big hermit crab, a stingray, and a GIANT barracuda.   After a busy first 24 hours we started an even more busy orientation getting introduced to classes, meeting our advisories, exploring around campus, hearing many rules and expectations, and preparing for SCUBA and Kayak Week.

We got a tour of The Island School campus and stopped here at the floating gazebo.  This outdoor classroom is located between the IS campus and The Cape Eleuthera Institute.
We got a tour of The Island School campus and stopped here at the floating gazebo. This outdoor classroom is located between the IS campus and The Cape Eleuthera Institute.
Yesterday we toured Cape Eleuthera on our bikes with our advisory groups.
Yesterday we toured Cape Eleuthera on our bikes with our advisory groups. (Teschna, Olivia and Carlos)

One of the introductions was to the student update blog, which is what you’re reading right now!  Every two weeks a new group of students will be responsible for writing blog posts and sharing stories from our experience on the student blog.  We ended the introduction with an activity that asked us to write down three words that came to mind when reflecting on our journey here so far and three words that best described our first impressions of this place that would be used to create two word clouds.  Check them out!

Compilation of words describing our journey to campus.
Compilation of words describing our first impressions.

 

Written by, Abby Gordon, Tess Bialobrzeski, and Catherine Argyrople

Urban School Leaders Visit Island School

Earlier this week, a number of urban school leaders visited The Island School to get to know our campus, as well as brainstorm ways to provide this type of transformative experience for their students. Brad Zervas, current Executive Director of Boys Hope Girls Hope (BHGH), and past Executive Director of Boys’ Club of NYC, Malick Fall, Principal at BHGH, and David Banks, Founder and Director of Eagle Academy, who has started 5 public schools for boys in and around NYC and most recently in Newark, NJ, were all in attendance.

These leaders are focused on the critical challenge facing young men around the planet, many of whom are growing up without fathers. In collaboration with the International Boys’ Schools Coalition, The Island School is working to help develop a summer leadership expedition to bring young men from schools around the globe. Zervas recognized years ago that Island School place and philosophy helps forge leaders through authentic physical and emotional challenges. Mallik and David took the initiating plunge off High Rock and after their visit are strong believers that the Cape is a good place to launch this new initiative.

A 15 Year Celebration to Remember!

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Thank you to all our friends, families, alumni, and supporters who joined us this past weekend to celebration 15 years of The Island School at the New England Aquarium in Boston, MA! Check out photos from the event here. We are also selling 15 year books on our website. If you are interested in purchasing a book to commemorate the past 15 years, click here.

Happy New Year and cheers to another 15!