http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyInLwkjpoA&feature=youtu.be
K1 and K2 returned from their 3-day expeditions yesterday afternoon and now it is time for K3 and K4 to head out to sea! Meanwhile, back on campus, K1 and K2 are busy getting scuba certified!
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Lilly Ganske
Acclimating to a new culture thousands of miles away from my hometown could not possibly be an easy feat. Therefore, I have experienced the rigorous transformation of being disoriented to oriented over the past week. Both physically and emotionally, the changes that I have endured between my hometown and The Bahamas have transformed me into a person who strives to understand and deal with the “adjustments or alignments of oneself or one’s ideas to surroundings or circumstances.” When being placed into a community where the “temporal, social, and practical circumstances in life” are entirely divergent of those practiced at home, disorientation is inevitable. From having such a sudden wake up call about how your actions can have detrimental effects on the environment, or realizing that there is not always one right answer, becoming oriented to a place certainly sets forth challenges by “introducing a new situation or environment.”
On the first day of legitimate morning exercise, the revered ‘run-swim,’ I encountered one of the most disorienting experiences of my life. After just arriving to the island, I was expected to run and swim what I consider great distances. Finding myself completely out of my element, I struggled to find reassurance that I would be able to orient myself to this new environment. However, after beginning to process my whereabouts and comprehend that this is what life would be like for the next three months, I began to realize that not being in my comfort zone is part of the process to becoming oriented to a new community. And after sitting through days of classes that were specifically designed to instill knowledge about my location to the rest of the world, I began to collect my bearings and adjust to life on Cape Eleuthera. Continue reading
Last night we introduced Island School students to our blog and talked with them about opportunities to have their voices and experiences heard over the coming months here. Then we asked them, from the perspective of Orientation Week, just what it means to become oriented to a place, to this place. Enjoy their thoughtful responses, a new 12 posted each coming day.
Fiona Cerf
Here I am on the Cape of Eleuthera, a destination where few could point out on a map. A place where up until a couple of days ago, I still questioned why I’m here and how I made it. A little lost, and a lot nervous I wake up to a 6:00 sunrise filled with pink and orange brushes of color, and a curious smile. For the first time in a while, I felt excitedly lost; comfortably disorientated.
The last week here has been spent orienting students to the surrounding environment, schedule and community; showing us everything from the dining hall to the seemingly endless exploration spots. I find myself in awe of my surroundings, but more so myself as a whole. In the one week that I’ve been at The Island School, my emotional compass has fixed its magnets and now faces a steady north. With a few spins of the arrow now and then, through guidance from the people, ocean, and air, I find myself. Yes I know where I can go to get a Band-Aid for a booboo, and some GORP for my growling stomach, but more so through conversations and experiences over the last week, I know that the next 100 days will be the most incredibly, terrifying, beautiful and transformational experience of my life.
Watching my bubbles slowly rise to the surface from 40 feet below, in my first even open water dive today was such a new experience. I look at my surrounding, realizing that I’m literally in a new world. I couldn’t help but let some salt water seep in through my regulator as I smiled. Completely worth the burning throat, because is such a disorienting circumstance, I felt like it was the final step of my orientation here in Eleuthera.
Beyond the obvious plethora of rubrics and tours we are inevitably exposed to during the all mighty “orientation week,” the curveball was when I realized how the faculty did a fantastic job of quietly allowing us to orientate ourselves. Continue reading
Orientation for Fall 2012 has ended and now the 47 students are diving right into kayak and scuba rotations. Check out this great panoramic photo taken from the Boathouse that shows it all: K1 and K2 packing their kayaks before heading out on their 3-day trips and K3 and K4 loading up the Cobia with their scuba gear for their first morning of certification dives!
Today is the final day of The 2012 Island School Photo Contest on both The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute Facebook pages. So start digging through those photos and submit them today! Good luck!
Yesterday, 47 students of the Fall 2012 semester traveled from far and wide to begin their journey at The Island School. Here they are at their very first dinner circle. It’s going to be a great semester!
On Saturday August 4th, the Cancer Society of The Bahamas held it’s annual Race for A Cure in Tarpum Bay. The purpose of the event is to raise funds to assist the efforts in cancer awareness, education and cure. Held on the same weekend as the annual Back to the Bay Homecoming, many locals and visitors came out to support the cause. Among the participants were our very own from the Island School and DCMS! We are proud to announce Dr. Joanna Paul placed second in her division (while pushing a stroller with Mara!!). Kalin Griffin placed second and Lindsay Erbaugh third in their divisions and DCMS student Tyler Leary placed 1st in his division. Way to represent The Island School, Deep Creek Middld School, and Cape Eleuthera Institute in support of cancer awareness in The Bahamas!
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Got some great photos from your semester or visit to The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute? Then submit them to The 2012 Island School Photo Contest! The Photo Contest is going on now and ends August 31st, 2012, 9:00am ET. You can enter your own, original photos on The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute Facebook pages, just as long as they are not defamatory, inflammatory or obscene. We’re looking for photos that best exemplify core values of The Island School:
and the Cape Eleuthera Institute:
You can read the full set of rules here: The 2012 Island School Photo Contest Rules
Once the contest has closed on August 31, we will announce the 12 contest finalists for The Island School and 12 finalists for Cape Eleuthera Institute. Then, the general public will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite photos on Facebook from September 1-September 15, 2012. The winner will be announced on September 17th, 2012. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for both The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute will get a copy of their winning photo in a casaurina frame, made by our very own Ashley Mackey. The 9 runner-ups will receive a calendar that includes all 12 of the finalist photos.
Disclaimer: All submissions become the property of the Island School. We reserve the right to reuse all submissions for Marketing & Publicity.
Believe it or not, the third and final academic rotation is nearly complete. Just like the weeks before them, the final food group spent the afternoon on Thursday in the kitchen helping to prepare and cook an entirely local meal. As part of their presentation to the dining hall, Tommy Robertshaw read an original poem he had composed earlier in the day. This final food presentation truly exemplified the goals of this theme, while connecting back to the overarching Summer Term question of “How can we live well in a place?”