CEI has a vibrant intern program designed to award individuals the opportunity to learn and contribute to all aspects of operating a remote research and education facility. We provide an intellectually rigorous atmosphere that allows new and returning members of our community to gain a deeper understanding of research projects, visiting educational programs, or systems at CEI. Continue reading
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The End of an Era
Yesterday marked an end of an era at The Island School with the departure of the one and only David Miller. David came to The Island School three years ago with a ton of energy, some quirky expressions and a passion to change young people’s lives. There is no doubt that every student of David Miller has at least one (if not 20) story that brings a smile and recalls how he helped make their time at Island School invaluable. David, we cannot thank you enough for all your hard work and dedication over the years and we are sad to see you go! We wish you the best of luck and expect you to stay in touch and continue to make us all smile and do good work!
–The Island School
South Eleuthera Kids Camp
A few weeks ago the Educational Programs team had the pleasure of running our longest standing camp, The South Eleuthera Kids Camp (SEKC) for a five day event filled with wild fun, good times, and most importantly, some powerful learning moments. SEKC is a camp run yearly during the summer for local Eleutharan children to get a first hand experience of all that goes on at the Cape Eleuthera Institute and the Island school. Continue reading
Apprentice Profile: Troy Williams
Troy Williams or Rock Sound is part of the Bahamian Apprentice Programme and works with Spencer and Sam. He shares some of his experience below:
My name is Troy Williams and I am an apprentice at the Island School. I work with two bright intelligent fellows: Sam and Spencer. It is my job to make sure that the pressure area stays in top shape. Which means that everything has to be sorted out in its right place but most importantly that it stays clean. From time to time I would work in the wood shop and assist Chris with work that he is doing. I am able to do this because I take a wood shop class in school and I am really good at it.
Alumni Spotlight: Evan Lutvak S10!
Last we heard from Evan in this fall, he was well on his way to developing an efficient way to create his very own biodiesel. More recently, he has made some impressive progress, as documented in his local newspaper. Keep up the awesome work, Evan!
Human Ecology Project: Phoenix Box
The following is a project summary from the Phoenix Box group. Human Ecology projects during Summer Term explored systems and proposed ways to effect a positive change by finding a leverage point and taking action.
The Phoenix Box is a symbol of knowing where your food comes from and about self-sustainability. The wood of the casuarina tree box rots when coming in contact with soil. This rotted wood can be used as soil for the next box that will be made. This cycle is similar to that of the mythical Phoenix, a bird that is reborn from the ashes of its deceased self. With each semester new people will be planting various flora inside the box. This opens the window for future human ecology projects and a chance for people to expand upon this already ongoing project. As well as the seeds planted inside the box, the idea of bringing this style of living to a place will be planted in the minds of all who come in contact with this idea. The entrance to the dining hall seemed a fitting location to place the Phoenix Box. This is because of the high amount of human traffic that passes by, as well as offering shade and protection from wind and salt, two things that these plants do not handle well.
The casuarina tree, which was used to make the box, is native to Australia and invasive in the Bahamas. Casuarina outcompetes other species, its needles spread out all over the ground making it hard for other plants to grow or survive. Because of the soil and plants in the box, the casuarina will rot each year having to be remade. The benefit of this is that more and more casuarina will be cut down and used. Once the wood breaks down it helps to make the soil more fertile. The soil we started with is a mix of sand, goat manure, and casuarina shavings left over from our project. We gathered cardboard from resources and used it in the bottom of the box to help prevent water from running straight through the soil. Also from resources is the watering can we decorated for the use of the Phoenix box.
After talking with Josh Shultz and Geoff Walton about our plans, we started the construction of the box by planing casuarina wood in order to make them equal width. Once this was done, we enlisted the help of Rico to cut the wood into planks and join them together with screws and supports to form a three by two box. This process was difficult due to the high density of the wood. So dense in fact that it can even sink in water! After digging a hole about six inches deep, we put the box in the ground in order to prevent it from flying away during hurricane season. Besides the wind protection, we also chose the spot for sun protection and good placement for CEI, students, and faculty to see the box and have access to the communal garden.
Once the box was done, we talked to Joseph, the groundskeeper, and decided that goat manure, sand, soil and wood shavings from the wood we planed would make the best fertilizer for the herbs. We also learned that herbs would be the best things to plant because they are beneficial to everyone and require less upkeep in comparison to flowers. So, we transplanted mint into the box and planted basil seeds, then watered it a lot. When all this was done, we made the sign by planing wood in the wood shop, cutting it, and painting it. We could not paint the wood of the box since the chemicals in the paint might leak into the soil and intoxicate the herbs.
The purpose of the Phoenix Box is to teach Island School students and community members about the importance of knowing where their food comes from. Most people don’t know how their food gets from a farm to a grocery store; our herbs can go straight from the Phoenix Box to the kitchen. Also, our project teaches people about the value of food. It is difficult to grow plants, especially in Eleuthera where the soil is not very fertile. Hopefully, people will learn to appreciate food more and will waste less. The garden also promotes using local food, which is better health-wise and cost-wise, since less money is spent on imported food that has been produced on large-scale farms using chemical fertilizers. Our fourth purpose for implementing the Phoenix Box is to encourage people to grow their own food and think about where their food comes from when they return home. Even if you live in a small house or apartment, you still have enough space to grow a few plants!
The Phoenix Box symbolizes a hopeful future in Eleuthera as a larger emphasis on agriculture can be placed upon the people rather than the U.S. for food. Eleuthera used to be the “Breadbasket of the Bahamas”; however as competition increased and as policies changed during independence to put Bahamians in more “sophisticated” jobs in the office, as a higher emphasis was placed on tourism, agriculture declined rapidly. Now most of the agricultural operations are fairly small scale and local opposed to the past commercial farms. The Phoenix Box connects to Eleuthera by displaying how important growing food on the island is to the sustainability of the future food sources for Eleutherans. Optimistically, the Phoenix Box will encourage a higher awareness of where food on Eleuthera comes from, as well as any more sustainable alternatives. We hope that future students will maintain this box and use it as a communal garden space.
Cacique Update: July 26th
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The following is a Cacique update written by Arielle and Julian for Tuesday, July 26th.
Tuesday started out bright and early as both students and families ran, biked, walked, and in some cases drove, to High Rock. Not all our guest were thrilled with the early wake up but were exited to go any way. Many took this as chance to show off in front of their families and quickly completed the two-mile run. Almost everyone took the plunge off High Rock to cool off and relax in its clear blue waters, before heading back to campus to prepare for the day.
Island School students spent their last few minutes preparing for their Human Ecology presentations. The food pamphlet group scrambled to print out brochures and finished with a few seconds to spare. After an awards ceremony congratulating many returning alumni and faculty that made summer term possible, each group did their best to show what they had done and learned in the last week. After the last presentation on Boy’s Dorm Beach and several days of hard and occasionally stressful work, Human Ecology was finally over. Not just Human Ecology, our classes were finally over. Of course we still had to write a student letter and make a portfolio but it felt like we were done.
After eating lunch and finishing our portfolios everyone had a chance to sign out for the last time. A few used their time biking around the loop, exploring No Name, and relaxing at Sunset beach. Other students went out with their families to hang out inside the marina or go SCUBA diving. However it was spent, everyone made the most out of his or her final free time
The Perez and Erdman families had arranged to try SCUBA diving for the first time. David Miller had given the families a crash course and the basics to a successful first dive. After setting up gear we were briefed on the boat ride to Sunset Beach. Emotions were flying as the new divers were asked to back roll of the side of the boat in full gear. The families we confident enough to trust the two very experienced dive instructors David Miller, Peter Zdrojewski, Malcolm who was a very helpful hand, and Julian acting as a “dive master” helping out his family underwater. The dive and the instructions were in very shallow water and lasted about 45 minutes.
After free time everyone got back together for dinner and the parents, faculty, and alumni were invited to the Maxey house at the marina. The students spent the rest of the night finishing up their last few assignments, portfolios, and a summer term program evaluation. Study hours ended half an hour early so we could all get extra sleep for the final morning exercise, the triathlon, which we’ve been training for the past five weeks.
Cacique Update: July 20th
Editor’s note: Please enjoy this vintage blog post! It was lost in the depths of the server.
The following is a Cacique update written by Joe and Sam for Wednesday, July 20th.
“Butter is good on a roll, but alone it is not,” as a studious, fellow Island School student once told me, was the quote we chose today. Although the saying at first may not seem as serious as it sounds, the meaning stretched much deeper to us, especially today. Bright and early around 6 A.M., many of us took an optional dive opportunity to check out the stunning Hole in the Wall reef about 60 feet down. We were able to see the distinct “drop-off”, which was breathtaking, as we toured the reef. After we got back in the morning, we split as some of us began the physical work behind our human ecology projects, while others worked with the South Eleuthera Kids Camp on plant identification walk around the old resort. The quote specially made sense to the students working with the campers because as a summer term community we work well, but we need the other members of the community as far as they stretch to the campers, interns, kitchen staff, etc… to make this experience great. We switched in the afternoon as the other sides got to experience this unity as well. As our semester begins to wind down with parent’s weekend approaching, I think we are beginning to finally see, as Peter told us in the beginning of these five weeks, the bigger picture of things and how all of the systems in our community combine complexly to form something so amazing, yet so simple. We continue to work on our human ecology projects, each with a set goal of leaving a legacy on this campus or at least fixing a problem we see within a system, whether it is in our community at the Island School or the local community throughout Eleuthera.
Cacique Update: The Culmination of Research Projects
[slideshow]The following update was written by caciques Olivia and Maggie from Monday, July 25th.
Excitement filled the air as a couple families joined our 6:30 morning circle and prepared to participate in morning exercise with the students. Grouped in buddies and truddies (three-person buddy groups), we students headed down to the Marina with fresh energy, and introduced our guests to the world of run-swims. The water was refreshing, and some students even saw some rays swimming along with us—a great way to start the day.
After breakfast, students broke off into either their research groups; or had some free time to work on assignments, snorkel with family and friends, or just chill out. Parents joined research class and got the opportunity to see exactly what their children have been doing for the past month.
The aquaculture team got to share an amazing experience with their families. They harvested cobia that was later shared in a community meal for dinner. Students and their families got involved right away to help catch the cobia from the tank. A couple of splashes and laughs later, families jumped right into filleting the cobia. With blood stains and hungry stomachs, they hurried to lunch for a delicious meal.
The sharks team shared an exciting day with parents as well. The team and their families took a boat out to Broad Creek where they experienced field research. After setting up and waiting a while, a lemon shark approached and bit the line. Parents’ excitement shined through their smiling faces when they got to take a picture with the shark.
After lunch, students participated in individual conferences with their parents and their advisors to get feedback on their entire summer term. After those conferences the students quickly prepared for their final research presentations later in the night.
Arriving at the Rock Sound Mission, the students quickly set up their posters and prepared to answer questions. Guests started arriving and immediately everyone became immersed in the amazing presentations that the research groups put together. The presentations were phenomenal and the questions were even better. After a few rotations of intense conversations, everyone gathered to have a tasty local meal including Island School born and raised pork, Bahamian mac n’cheese, fried cobia fingers, sautéed tilapia and baked treats, just to name a few of the delicious featured foods.
Cacique Update: Thursday July 21st
The following update was written by Courtney and Molly for Thursday, July 21st.
We began our day by seeing how far we’ve come athletically since the beginning of the program. We all ran our hardest to high rock. Everyone was able to run the whole two miles there, which was a huge improvement from the first time. At high rock, many of us enjoyed an exciting jump into the cool water below. After a filling breakfast of delicious golden-brown French toast we broke of into our human ecology groups to continue working on our respective projects. Some groups went into the settlements to discover some local bakeries and shops. Other groups stayed on campus and did a variety of things including building furniture. Lunch was amazing cheese and bean quesadillas, a surprising treat. During research time we got to know the south Eleutheran kids camps better by teaching them about our respective research projects. The shark group even hilariously acted out a tag and capture of a juvenile lemon shark! The community all came back together at dinner circle, where we even met some new members from Earthwatch.