By Dorothy Long and Augie Cummings
I woke up sweating my brains out at 6:15 this morning. Twelve sleepy “young leaders” surround me; this is one of Chris Maxey’s affectionate names for the students. It was still dark because the sun had not yet risen. This was just a start to all the water Continue reading
Caciques Brandon Gell and Sarah Francisco
A Day of Exploration – September 4th
Slowly I, along with fellow leaders, descended into the beautifully surreal waters. As the exchange of oxygen for carbon dioxide persisted, the need for air in this unfathomable world became increasingly more essential. Continuing our underwater Continue reading
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Caciques: Chris Daniell and Taylor Schendel
Today was a busy day on The Island School campus. For our first math class, we headed out to the sandbar a couple miles offshore. Here we applied our math skill to find the distance to the horizon. As Chris was explaining how “ooids” (the sand particles) form, a pod of dolphins swam towards the anchored Continue reading
Caciques: Aubrey Faggen and Will Overman
After a great nights sleep, we started off bright and early with our first morning swim. We began with a light jog to the ocean, from there we set off on our half mile swim which lead us around the inside curve of a cove. Although some of us struggled, we all pushed through and made it to the end! Even with some tired bodies in the water, we all still managed to strive for another ten minutes of treading water. And then again, we all sprinted back to campus with our masks in our hands, and Continue reading
Connor Ventling (S09) has had a busy summer! He recently completed two sprint triathlons, the Nantucket Triathlon and the Marlborough Triathlon, where he set a personal record. Connor finished second in his age group in races and qualified for the Age Group National Championships at Marlborough. He will be racing in the Age Group Nationals Continue reading
The Fall 2010 class will be blogging about their Island School experience over the next 14 weeks. A couple nights ago, they had an Intro to Blogging workshop– check out the posts they wrote in their advisory groups below!
Rachel’s Advisory- Aubrey, Noah, Ellen, and Heather
After a night of barely any sleep, last minute packing and pre-arrival jitters, we all finally arrived to our new home greeted by friendly and excited faces. After the bus ride down island, we arrived in what we thought must be paradise. Once the day of meeting our new family and unpacking was over, we settled into our warm beds and were rocked to sleep by the soothing sound of the ocean waves crashing. Morning came surprisingly early as we woke up to the sound of blasting music. But luckily we had the whole day to look forward to, starting with our first morning exercise as one community, snorkeling.
Allegra’s Advisory- Sarah F., Sarah S., Jackson, and Charlie
Driving from the Rock Sound Airport to the Island School campus is an experience fresh in our minds. There was an anxious atmosphere combined with pure excitement and a touch of awkwardness as we looked around at all of our future classmates. As the blue roofs of the campus came into view, we felt like all we’ve been anticipating for had finally arrived, and the bus broke out in applause. Finally, it hit us that this will be our home for the next fourteen weeks. Splashing into the ocean for our first snorkel at sunrise was a refreshing way of Continue reading
Caciques: Garneisha Pinder and Clay Bales
Although we had a sleep-in today, it was hard to appreciate its true value considering 7:15 is an early wake-up for most throughout their summer. We began our morning activities with a class entitled “When are we?” This activity was guided by a quotation: “We are not here to learn about people from the past, we are here to learn from people with a past.” Based on this quotation, we split up into groups and became very curious audiences. Joseph, Justin, Marco, and Bernadette all spoke about their personal histories. Through this, we were able to get a better understanding of how locals live on the island, how some arrived at the island, and the cultures that they come from. This activity made students Continue reading
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While I was holding up an old conch shell telling the story of how the conch fishery is in trouble all over the tropical Atlantic a friendly octopus reached out from the shell and began climbing down my arm. This was an awesome example of how the outdoor classroom is always unpredictable and exciting — no doubt creating a sense of wonder for all of us as we begin the Fall 2010 journey.
As the sun set over the Exuma Sound on Friday, August 20th, family and friends gathered on Sunset Beach at Cape Eleuthera to witness Chris and Pam Maxey exchange vows. After almost nine years of separation, Chris and Pam decided it was time to reunite with a wedding ceremony on Eleuthera. Almost 100 guests, plus faculty and staff of The Island School, Cape Eleuthera Institute, and Deep Creek Middle School joined the Maxey family in celebration of their marriage. Continue reading