By Aly Boyce and Nate Smith

You can’t get much better than a nice morning bike ride. Winding through trees and bouncing over pot holes, the abbreviated student body, led by the trail blazer Matt Dawson, used this bike ride as a learning experience. Surrounding the school is an old resort that is now inhabited by a multitude of trees and exotic plants. With this bike ride under our belts, we are even closer in establishing our knowledge concerning the area which encompasses The Island School campus.  Yet amongst all the smiling faces, something was missing: the second half of our Island School family. Arising from the thunder clouds was none other than our comrades, the kayakers. Continue reading →

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“Tunnel Rock”  September 9, 2010

by Caciques Jackson Rafter and Sasha Whittle

For our second day of scuba, the campus was up early setting up their scuba gear, despite the sleep-in. After breakfast, each scuba group loaded the boats and took off quickly to finish the final required skills. The morning of skills felt long as we all anticipated the deeper and more adventurous dive. Each group raced back to the boathouse to switch out to their second tanks. Some of us struggled to complete 10 pushups with our tanks and gear on, punishment for leaving our tanks unsupervised. We cruised on our boats farther from the shore than usual, not being able to see the creatures that awaited us at the bottom. We grabbed the boats anchor line, many of us clenching with white knuckles nervous for our first Continue reading →

Yesterday was the first day of school for students at the New York Harbor School, which recently relocated from Bushwick, Brooklyn to Governors Island, just short a ferry ride from Manhattan.  The Island School is a proud partner of NYHS; in recent years, we have hosted students for two weeks for SCUBA certifications and advised them on various sustainability projects, such as their recent addition of an aquaponics system.  We’re looking forward to watching NYHS do great things at their new location!

Read more about the opening of NYHS on Governors Island in the New York Times, DNAInfo, Brooklyn Paper and Metro.

“Breaking Boundaries and Blowing Bubbles”

by Caciques George Giannos and Hunter Foote

Today was a melancholy day at The Island School. After breakfast over a picturesque ocean view on the roof of the dining hall, the second troop of kayakers departed, leaving the campus like a ghost town. After already being separated for three days, seeing our Island School family disperse again was heartrending. However, those of us on campus were filled with anticipation to start SCUBA. We began our SCUBA Continue reading →

Just a few pics of K1 and K2 returning to campus after their three-day kayak excursion…

“A Different Kind of Homesickness”

Caciques: Daisy Spencer and Scott Endzel

“I was really homesick the last hour of being on the camp site, but as soon as my kayak hit the sand at school, I realized I was Island sick.”—Hunter Foote, K1 trip

Going in to our first week of official Island School life, it’s starting to get more exciting around campus. The first groups of scuba divers are now officially certified as of 3:30 this afternoon. During the scuba certification, Continue reading →

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Caciques: Sarah S. and Jack

Our first week at The Island School has come quickly to an end. As the students and faculty begin to know each other more, we are all realizing that not only is this our home for the next three months—it is also our family. Although many hearts on campus are longing for the comfort of their own family, the environment at The Island School creates a sense of community and connectedness that only a home like The Island School itself can provide. Tonight at the dinner circle we demonstrated just how much we support each other. As we stood in a tightly Continue reading →

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 →