The Flats Ecology team is wrapping up an amazing spring semester and preparing for an exciting summer session.  This semester the flats team worked with The Island School students to study bonefish distribution and growth rates.  The students would go out in the field, fly fish and seine, then tag and measure bonefish. Hoping to find interesting correlations between movement patterns and growth rate, the students had a unique experience working out in the field and grasping a better understanding of the scientific process. Continue reading →

After a project at the beginning of the S.11 semester where a single piece of advice was collected from every member of The Island School, Facilities, Cape Eleuthera Institute and Deep Creek Middle School for the incoming semester of students, students at the end of the semester had an idea.  After having spent one hundred days looking to our collective wisdom for advice, they decided to get together and leave their own words for the upcoming F.11 group of Island Schoolers.  So, in the eternally cyclical spirit of The Island School experience, things have come full circle.  I am delighted to bring to you the very thoughtful words of the S.11 semester:

“I’ll miss you in this place.” –Gigi “Life is a game of inches.” –Lizzie “Live each day as it comes. Enjoy every bit of the experience and leave with no regrets.” –True “Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” (Dr Seuss) –Kelly D. “Be the change you wish to see in the world” – Sam Essig “There are so many things I wanted still to do so many things to say to you remember that I did not fear it was just leaving you that was so hard to face we cannot see beyond but this I know I love you so, it was heaven here with you” (Isla Paschal Richardson.) – Eliza H. “Laugh always, even if it is buggy.” –Katie Continue reading →

On June 10th, CEI researchers Annabelle Oronti and Edd Brooks tied the knot in England with potcakes Friendly and Biscuit as their witnesses.  The ceremony took place at a church in Edd’s home village where his parents also got married.  Several former IS and CEI faculty and staff were in attendance.  Congratulations to Edd and Annabelle!

Once again Educational Programs has been out having a blast, all the while teaching and learning in the field.

This time, four high school boys and their chaperone teacher Melissa Sullivan visited us all the way from Pacific Ridge High School in Carlsbad, California. The group was with us for twelve days, and we got to spend much of their time working with researchers in the field or in the lab. Expecting to come here and experience nothing more than white sand beaches, the students were surprised by how much valuable knowledge they had learned by the end of their stay here. They left happy knowing that they had gotten to know some of the finer details of the real Bahamas and some of the major challenges and opportunities of the area.

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Please join us in welcoming Cameron Powel (F04) to The Island School staff.  Cameron will return to the island this July as the Alumni Relations and Communications Associate.  This won’t be Cam’s first time back on campus since her Fall 2004 semester.  She interned in the summers of 2006 and 2007 and joined the Island School Summer Term staff last year as a Summer Term mentor.  Cameron recently graduated from Bates College in Maine with a BA in Sociology.  She hails from Shaker Heights, Ohio and enjoys running, traveling, being with friends, and playing tennis.  “I’m excited to return to Eleuthera in a whole new role and experience the semester from the faculty perspective,” says Cam.  We are thrilled to have Cameron joining the staff and look forward to her return to Eleuthera.

Check out this article from the New York Times – a great reminder of how our vision of “Leadership Effecting Change” applies to life outside The Island School.

“Most people don’t form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed gradually by their calling.”

We Started the Fire- with Biodigestion

At several points during our Island School journey, we experience many firsts. Only minutes ago, our biodigestion team went down in Bahamian history by producing and using the first biogas produced from an anaerobic digestion system. Just recently, we added a new system with 7% glycerol called “Hal-Drew,” named after a visiting master teacher and an Island School alum. Earlier this afternoon, we found this new addition to our digestion fleet to have several leaks in the gas tubing, disturbing the biogas production process. We quickly remedied this leaky situation by wrapping the holes in electrical tape. Our eyes lit up at the sight of the water level rising before we had even finished this process. Continue reading →

As part of the Spring 2011 Human Ecology Course at The Island School, a creative group of students made this movie to help explain the journey students experience on Cape Eleuthera. Mario Sacca, TJ Thran, Lindsey Springs and Lizzie Ayoub describe the semester through a student lens as a way to share with world what a semester with The Island School entails. Don’t worry, they haven’t exposed everything so there are still plenty of surprises to experience for all future students on their 100 day journeys.