At Middlebury’s TEDx conference a few weeks ago, we had the good fortune of meeting Anna Cummins from 5 Gyres, an organization whose vision is to rid the oceans of plastic waste. Anna mentioned to us that 5 Gyres was working to organize a Youth Summit in Long Beach California, and she hopes that some of our high school-age alumni are interested in getting involved.
The Summit, to be held March 11-13, 2011 in Long Beach, California, is sponsored in part by grants from Disney Friends for Change Project Green and the Boeing Company Charitable Trust. The Summit is a comprehensive educational project designed to engage, mentor, and activate youth leaders across the United States and abroad in developing and launching action-oriented Continue reading →
This week has been an eventful week for the Deep Water Sharks team. We said goodbye to three members of our team while they went off on their kayak trip. However we still have been working hard, out surveying two times this week, one of which was late Friday night. We stayed up as late as we ever have this semester and, as teenagers who are busy and need our sleep, there were some yawns.
Even so we had an awesome time. Aly went to set the survey with Annabelle and Sean, then Sean and Aubrey joined to retrieve the survey at 11pm. Though we have only caught two sharks this week, they are two types of sharks that we are looking for to conduct further research.
Aubrey recording data and getting tagging and DNA tools ready
We are focusing on the Gulper and the Taiwan Gulper. Friday afternoon we caught a Gulper, but unfortunately we were not able to put a satellite tag on it to track its movements. Friday night, however, we caught the Taiwan Gulper, which is the larger of the two sharks and this one was 152 centimeters long. We took blood, a DNA sample, and placed a satellite tag on the shark.
Aubrey recording data and Aly stuffing 1100m of line without tangling it!
The tag will track the shark for 30 days then pop off and transmit all the data it has stored on the sharks movements to a satellite. Currently we are working on our final presentations/scientific papers. Individually we wrote our introductions, but now in our academic rotations for kayak, the three of us are working as a team on our methods section here on campus.
Two fins emerged from the water swimming straight for us. We had just finished a light swim on a beautiful pink sand beach and were getting ready to head back to South Eleuthera. As the sleek glistening bodies emerged from the water these two dolphins brought gasps and squeals all around. They swam closer, playing with us all, twirling and splashing. Goosebumps covered my body as I swam alongside, looking the dolphin in the eye underwater. They were within arms length and appeared very curious. The excitement of the group was tangible as we watched in awe as the dolphins jumped out of the water and followed us, weaving in and out of the group, surfing the waves alongside some of us. This was a moment that the pure beauty of nature brought me chills as I watched students experience such an unforgettable moment in the vast sea with a rising sun.
As the water dropped to a frigid 25° Celsius (77° Farhenheit), we ripped the wet suits out of the closets. No more monkey business, it’s gettin’ cold. Feel warm and buoyant, the accuracy of our abundance surveys greatly increased. At our second site, we were meet with a staggering amount of our key species; 11 Nassau grouper, 8 Spiny lobster, 5 Red lionship, and 1 Queen triggerfish who was playing dead. After some lengthy calculations, we determined that the population of marine species at this patch reef was greater than that of the entire Cape Eleuthera marina. Too bad we didn’t have enough time to check it out.
After an extensive photo shoot modeling our wet suits, we concluded we were eternally acclimatized to the Bahamian waters. BEST DAY EVER!
Through reflection and just everyday life here, I’m learning so many valuable things about myself. I’m a “spontaneous motivator.” I work well after a good cry. I love conch. I am a good dorm mama. But also, I’ve been learning that I’m exponentially stronger than I thought I was.
At the beginning of the semester we had our first run-swim. We ran a maximum of 200 meters, then swam for a maximum of 30 over and over again. It’s one of the nicest exercises here because once your legs get tired from swimming, it’s right about time to jump back in the water. And, when your arms get tired of swimming, you’re almost about to transition back to land. As soon as I started out on the swim, I felt strong. I quickly and easily got into a rhythm. While one arm swings over my head, reaching as far as possible, the other arm is stretched out into the water, trying to pull at as much water towards me as possible. I quickly passed the people swimming around me.
But then, my juggernaut-like momentum came suddenly to a halt Continue reading →
This morning we woke up to a dark morning, and gathered in the boathouse to go FREE DIVING for morning exercise. After a rainy boat ride, we flipped back into the water at Chub point. All of a sudden, we heard Meaghan shouting excitedly about a double rainbow emerging from the cloudy sky. It was an incredible sight. After scrumptious breakfast, we embarked on out journey to the Schooner Cays for a day of math under the sun. As it turned out it, it was extremely cloudy all day and the sand flies were horrendous, but we escaped their itching by fleeing into the water with our sextants. We use sextants to measure the angle between the horizon line and the sun. Our goal for the day was to have 150 readings for each pair of students, but because of the uncooperative weather, most only came out with 50. Even though we couldn’t see the sun, it turned out to be a day full of shining experiences.
Mail day. It can strike any day of the week, any week, at any time. Delivery is arbitrary and not at all related to the date it was sent. The package your mom sent filled with the latest issues of TeenBop and Vogue will most definitely get here faster than the one with the retainer, underwater camera, and headlamp you left at home. Students and staff alike anxiously await the day that letters and boxes Continue reading →
When I am reading for enjoyment, not for study, I have precarious and inefficient shorthand for my experience as a reader. I draw smiley faces next to things that make me smile. I underline things that I think my future self will want to go back and find. I draw stars next to other things, though I have yet to figure out just why I do this; stars are pure impulse. I draw stars out of whimsy. I am just imagining how shocked my students would be if they only knew the woman responsible for allocating their annotation grades, marked her own texts like this. As I rummage through pages of amateurish annotation, looking for inspiration, I come upon this line, glad that I underlined for my future self, me now, to stumble back upon:
“You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment,” –Annie Dillard
And I begin to think about my own astonishment and I begin to think that this might be an incredible way to explain what it is like to teach and live here. And I begin to think about recent moments where I found myself completely immersed in awe, big eyed, and astounded…
As a teacher at The Island School, I was made and set here to give voice to this: Continue reading →
