By Sasha and Chris P.

“I Never Thought I Could do That”

Although our tired bodies love the eight hours of sleep we get each night, we show up to morning circle bright and early to get a brand new start on the day. Today was the first trial of run track and swim track. This is one of the two days that we get split up into two groups; one group swims, while the other runs. The runners started off stretching and making sure their bodies were warmed up for the run, and then they started off on a four-mile adventure!

The whole group pushed each other forward and supported each other through the first of many runs to come. We all finished by Continue reading →

Check out this article from Energy Today about Eolian Energy, featuring Co-founder/CEO (and former IS faculty member) Jack Kenworthy!

Eyes gently shut, ears dipped beneath the surface to drown out the non-aqueous world. . .

. . .a series of long, deep breaths. . . relax.  One final breath to pack in as much air as possible, a pronounced bend at the waist, and I’m off. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldg7nOQy5Vc

I recently reviewed my semester goals and I realized that one goal is always on the list–freedive more often.  Some semesters I have more than achieved that goal, and in others I have come up short.  Regardless, I put that one on the list semester after semester.  Spending the afternoon on Monday freediving my favorite reef with my extended advisory (led by Ashley Akerberg) forced me to consider this question: Why is freediving so important to me? Continue reading →

September 14, 2010

by Caciques Margaux Burnham and Tucker Beckett

Today students got to see something pretty amazing in the North Gazebo after lunch. Annabelle, a researcher, had caught two dogfish and one cat shark with the rest of the shark team this morning. Little is known about these elusive species, including the origin of the names “cat shark and dogfish,” in fact, every shark expert who came to breakfast at The Island School had no idea why they were named this way!

The shark team’s normal procedure goes that they just tag the sharks and release them, but out of the 25 sharks tagged that day, these three didn’t survive because of a 4 meter six gill shark tangling up the line. Luckily for us, Annabelle brought Continue reading →

This past Saturday was the last day of orientation and, in my mind, the first day of the semester.  Of course we have been busy learning and doing for the past two weeks; but the final day of orientation is carefully planned to delineate critical phases of the semester journey.  For this reason, I’d like to share some thoughts that I wrote up last semester about the intentionality that goes into orientation and the semester as a whole here.  I also included a picture of the final signing of the IS Mutton Snapper, a symbolic act that represents every individual’s commitment to the semester community.

Some of you may hear about the timed run-swim we did yesterday and Monday when your son or daughter next phones home.  Given the limited amount of time you have for the phone call, you may be left wondering what the heck a run-swim is.  A run-swim is the quintessential IS exercise because it combines the two primary activities of our morning exercise training–running and swimming– and because it is a challenging workout fraught with obstacles.  Effectively, we just start going as fast as we can in one direction, doing anything it takes to keep moving.  So if there is land, we duck and weave around trees, branches, and rocks; if we hit the sea, we swim; if we come upon a wall, we clamber over it; and if there is a Continue reading →

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQJUs4cok-A

Thanks to Christian Henry for putting this together!

“Proposing Not Imposing”

by Caciques Rachael Pridmore and Chris Lorient

What does it mean to be immersed in another culture? Today, at Island School, the students caught a glimpse of what it truly means, while spending a sun soaked day with the Deep Creek Middle School students. But first, to understand what this truly means, we must go back to the meaning of the word community. A community shares a sense of togetherness, while supporting each other through both encouraging words and actions. As a community, members give each other the ability to pursue their individual dreams while pushing them to greatness. This afternoon, Island School students went into Deep Creek for community outreach, a weekly activity at The Island School, just expecting to meet a buddy. Instead, we found a humbling and enriching new family among the students. The mentor-mentee role that was to be established, turned out to not be that one specific way. They had just as much Continue reading →