Many of our Island School alumni had the privilege of being taught by former faculty member Nathan Weathington (Fall 2001-Spring 2005). Nathan taught math class, but I’m sure many of our alumni can attest that they learned the most from Nathan outside the classroom through his hilarious, true-life stories. Nathan recently put all those stories into writing and has published Where the Hell Were Your Parents?, a comic coming-of-age memoir about him and his twin brother growing up in rural Georgia. You can get your copy of the book here.
Nathan is living in New Zealand with his wife, whom he met while working at The Island School, Morgan Black, and their two sons Hudson and Hank. Congratulations, Nathan! We can’t wait to get our hands on a copy.
In April, five DCMS grade eight students spent a few days of their Easter vacation touring boarding schools in the Mid-Atlantic region. DCMS supports its students in applying for scholarships for US boarding schools as an alternative option to continuing with their high school education on Eleuthera. To date, 33 students have received over $4 million in awards at prep schools from Virginia to Maine.
This year’s candidates are touring early and will be applying next year. They saw The George School, Oldfields, West Nottingham and St. Andrews to help them understand the range of schools and offerings that they can consider. Thank you to the homestay families, The Strathmanns (parents of Will F’07) and the Obrechts (parents of Annie S’12) for making their visit possible!
It still looks like night outside, but a few pull themselves out of bed to go free-diving, careful not to wake the others who opt to sleep in. W e gather our masks, snorkels, and fins, and head to the boathouse, where Chris Maxey is already leading breathing exercises.
From there we take two boats out to a place called tunnel rock. One of the faculty, Mike, instructs me on how to drive the boat around the shallow rocks and sandbars that stretch out across the ocean. We get to tunnel rock and tie the boat to a buoy. I look down to see the huge rock formation covered in beautiful coral heads, with a long, partially covered tunnel leading through it that the dive sit is named after. Most of the rock is only ten or fifteen feet deep, and the sandy bottom surrounding it goes down to thirty.
Some dive to look at the corals and fish, others choose to push their boundaries, trying to touch the bottom or see how long they can stay under. As the sun rises over the open ocean, the twenty of us begin our dives.
I am warming up, doing a shallow fifteen foot dive, when I see someone far below me on the sandy bottom, taking off his fins. He proceeds to grab a rock and take a couple steps. He drops the rock and swims to the surface. On my next dive I see a lionfish, and I swim over to it in order to get a better look, keeping my distance, and when I look down I see someone slowly and calmly passing through the tunnel. He reaches the end and ascends calmly.
I find as the dive progresses that I can go further and further down, just by merit of practicing pushing my limits. I can stay down longer and longer, allowing me to stay more relaxed in the water, and to see more. I can’t get down very far, but that boundary is constantly being pushed, and my ability is constantly expanding.
It’s like my whole experience at the Island School, really. I suffered on my first dive, barely making it ten feet down, splashing awkwardly, breathing in water, and flailing my arms the whole way, but I was thrilled and addicted. I’m still awkward, I still can’t stay down for very long, but the more that I immerse myself into the idea of getting deeper and deeper, the further I go.
Now , I can get down to forty feet, and I’m practicing for a swim- through of tunnel rock, and it hurts every time. At the Island School, the thing that I have learned every single day, over and over again, is how to push myself, and how to completely invest my body and my mind into what I’m doing. The focus and the struggle inherent in a free-dive is the perfect microcosm of the Island School experience.
Deep Creek Middle School Alumni were out in full force at last weekend’s Penn Relays in Philadelphia. Four students at US prep schools participated in events.
Anna McCartney and Treshae Clarke in the 4×100 (second place) and 4×400 (third place) for Wilbraham and Monson, MA
Our alumni have gone on to accomplish pretty amazing things since their Island School journey. Scroll down to read about what the past 15 years of IS students have been up to lately. A huge thank you to all the Class Agents for collecting and compiling all of these impressive updates. If you would like to send in your update or are interested in becoming a Class Agent, email alumnI@islandschool.org
Mornings at the Island School begin at 6:15 with a beeping watch and a flick of the light switch. It is never easy dragging myself out of bed but the thought of doing push-ups at circle always gets me going. Once up, I quickly throw on some athletic clothes and grab my sneakers before rushing out of the door. At circle we do a quick count off, go through announcements for the day and then sing the Bahamian National Anthem with pride. After the National Anthem we split into either run or swim track and begin our morning exercise.
Morning circle
Before beginning our daily run, Sophia (an Island School Student) led us through some stretches. These stretches took us all over campus but ended near the dinning hall so we could all see and appreciate the beautiful red sunrise. Although waking up at 6:15 is definitely not my favorite thing, I look forward to seeing the spectacular sunrises every morning.
Sunrise off of dining hall deck
Once we had warmed up and stretched, we headed out to the Marina to do some sprints. The thought of sprints always makes me cringe but luckily today we did them in partner pairs so that one person would be sprinting and the other would be waiting on the bridge, recovering. When it was my turn to run the loop I started with a full-fledged sprint. However, by the time I was halfway through, my lungs felt like they were going to explode and my legs felt like jelly. As I neared the final stretch I was about ready to quit but the sound of everyone cheering kept me going. Once I made it to the top of the bridge I high-fived Will, my partner, and watched him sprint off. It was reassuring to know that I would have at least a few minutes to regain my breath.
After morning exercises we all split up into different chore groups. In past chores I’ve had Girls Dorm (which usually means you’re stuck cleaning toilets) and Farm Chores (meaning you get to pick lettuce and other yummy foods). By the end of chores music is always blasting from girls dorm as all the girls begin cleaning their personal space. By 8:15 (maybe 8:30 depending on how messy your personal space is) people are packing into the dinning hall for breakfast.
When everyone is done eating Dish Crew stays behind to clean while everyone else prepares for the morning classes.
Will and Don on dish crew
This morning we had a 3-hour Human Ecology block, where we split into our separate groups to work on our projects.
Leigh preps us for our Human Eco block
My group is building a garden for the ELC (Early Learning Center). We spent today talking to Oscar (the head facilities manager) and collecting materials to start building our trellis. When we got back the presentation room we saw Anya, Bailey, Tess and Abbe cutting up coconuts for their new soap product. We all crowded around trying to get a small chunk of coconut to eat before class ended.
Abbe and Anya crackin’ coconuts
Once class was over I headed to the dinning hall to grab a quick lunch before research. For Sustainable Fisheries we headed out to Rock Sound, a settlement 30 minutes away, to interview some local fishermen on their perspective of the surrounding marine environment. Ted, a local from Rock Sound who works at The Island School, came with us and introduced us to some fishermen he knows. Both of the interviews we conducted were very successful and we heard some interesting stories about sharks. After a long (and very hot) day, full of interviewing, we headed back to The Island School just in time for dinner circle.
Dinner Circle
At dinner circle we went through all the announcements and then one of the caciques, told the quote of the day; “Speak if only what you have to say is more beautiful than silence”. The quote was followed by a moment of silence. Once dinner circle was finished we all headed to the dinning hall to eat.
FOOD
After dinner my hectic day finally winded down. Since it was a nice night I spent my study hours on the dining hall porch with some other Island School students. We played some music and chatted as we worked on our Art projects. At 10:30 we headed back to the dorm for the night. As soon as I got back to the dorm I collapsed into bed, exhausted after such a busy day.
It’s been about 6 weeks since all 48 of us arrived here at The Island School and we’re already completely immersed into the academic structure. One thing that I look forward to every week is advisory time. On thursday afternoons, advisories get to go off campus and have fun doing activities of their choosing. I’m in Margaret’s advisory with Avery Vanacore, Krista Church, Scott Voigt, and Zach McCloskey.
Our advisory after the beach clean up at Red Bay Beach
Two weeks ago, we got the chance to go to Red Bay beach and help Liz, a member of our extended advisory create a video for a competition she’s entering. On the beach we blasted music and had a contest of who could pick up the most trash. In the end, Zach had an overflowing garbage bag and was the winner of our contest. Avery and I had loads of fun when we found buoy a with a rope attached to it and immediately decided that it would be our bunk pet back in Girls North. We dragged it around on the beach and enjoyed including it in our advisory pictures! Afterwards we all hopped in the van and headed over to dispose of the trash and went to get cups at Mr. Henry’s, a small local store run by Mr. Henry himself in Deep Creek. Cups are plastic cups filled with frozen passion juice, and are a favorite among Island Schoolers.
At 4th hold during our first Thursday advisory afternoon (as you can see, we stopped at the Marina beforehand)
I remember the first day that I met my advisory group. It was right after we had somewhat finished unpacking our luggage and, settling into the dorms and getting ready for dinner. No one really knew what the procedure was so we were all staring around the tables until instructions of sitting with your advisory groups were given. I immediately panicked as I looked around, unable to find Margaret’s table. After what seemed like an embarrassingly long time to be looking for something so obvious, I spotted Margaret with a group of strange faces. After sitting down and introducing myself I looked back at the other members of the group. I recognized the girl who introduced herself as my bunkmate but the other faces were completely new. After an awkward yet enjoyable dinner we all left to go to or dorms. I didn’t really know what to expect for future advisory meetings, we all seemed like such different people and it was hard enough to learn their names. Looking back at it now, I had no idea what would happen.
Advisory time at Liz’s apartment
Last week was a pretty fun advisory meeting, we went to Liz’s house and played fun games while we made two batches of chocolate chip cookies, because one just wasn’t enough. Krista played the Ukelele while Avery and Zach focused on the cookies. Scott led some games while I wandered around trying to do everything at once. The time seemed to go by so fast and when it was time to leave to get back to school on time for dinner circle I watched everyone get back into the van and leave while I waited to get picked up by my Histories teacher, Emma in order to go to a festival for my project.
We were team USA in the Advisory World Cup
More than a month through this incredible experience, I can confidently say that although our advisory is filled with attitude, craziness and just plain weirdness, we’re all good friends and only getting closer by the day. Kayak rotations begin next week and we’re all so excited to see more of the island with a new group of people. Unfortunately we will be scattered around for almost a month; but I can’t wait for our first advisory meeting after rotations where we can share our amazing experiences.
Fall 2008 alumna, Jenny Sherman, has been selected to deliver the student speech at Duke University’s commencement ceremony next month. She was chosen from 30 graduate and undergraduate students who also submitted speeches for the commencement committee’s consideration. “Our greatest gifts are not the things that make us extraordinary,” said Sherman, who plans to share some of the moments that shaped her own college experience. “Our greatest gifts are the things that make us human.” You can read more about how Jenny’s speech came to be selected and more about Jenny’s past 4 years at Duke here.
All are invited to hear Jenny speak at Duke’s commencement ceremony on Sunday May 11 at 10:00am. Congratulations and good luck, Jenny!
Before I came to The Island School, I didn’t know what it would be like to live without a phone or Internet; none of us did. Our generation has grown up with access to both. The Internet was always a part of our lives before coming to IS, never further than the smartphones in our hands. It was bittersweet to surrender our devices immediately after landing in Eleuthera to start our semester.
The first week was surely a change for us all. I constantly felt like I was missing a piece of me. I was always so accustomed to feeling the subtle weight and bulkiness of my phone in my pocket; it felt unorthodox to lose the sensation. As time progressed, we all became more and more acclimated to the lack of Internet. After being here for over a month, the loss of the web and my phone is the last thing on my mind. Instead, it has been refreshing to disconnect from those distractions and live our daily lives like all of our parents did when they grew up. Communicating with friends now means actually finding them and talking to them.
Doing papers means taking notes in class and talking to teachers; Wikipedia is no longer a last second option after a week of procrastination. Checking the weather app is no longer necessary, as our eyes are more accurate in sighting rain clouds off in the distance than any weather radar around. Life went on before the Internet existed, and it will certainly do the same for us here. It may be unrealistic to think we will all avoid the Internet and give up our phones when we return to our lives back home, but at the same time I hope this experience gives us all a new outlook on what really matters in our lives.
Each Island School student has a Deep Creek Middle School buddy during community outreach where we help them achieve a goal to better their society. Last week Island School students had the unique opportunity to socialize with their buddy outside of the classroom environment during the DCMS dance. The dance was held at the Marina Pavilion where we all rode our bikes or took vans while the DCMS students took bus to the Marina. When I got to the Marina I was cheerfully greeted by my buddy and his friends who were all excited to dance to the music and eat good food.
It was an incredibly fun experience when the DCMS students made a large circle for a dance off while dancing to “Wobble.” At first, I was a bit shy to join this dance off circle but my excited buddy quickly pulled me in the middle and forced me to dance. I am grateful for my buddy doing this because after that moment I felt so accepted within the DCMS community that I kept on dancing until I got tired. After this, some students went to Sunset Beach to witness one nature’s most beautiful spectacles: the sunset. After seeing the sunset, the party continued into the night where all the students kept dancing and building friendships. Events like this, I have realized, allow people to break their comfort zones and build friendships with people they would have otherwise ignored. This event proved incredibly important for me and my buddy because we have learned more about each other and will help us reach our goal that we have set off to accomplish.
Many of our Island School alumni had the privilege of being taught by former faculty member Nathan Weathington (Fall 2001-Spring 2005). Nathan taught math class, but I’m sure many of our alumni can attest that they learned the most from Nathan outside the classroom through his hilarious, true-life stories. Nathan recently put all those stories into writing and has published Where the Hell Were Your Parents?, a comic coming-of-age memoir about him and his twin brother growing up in rural Georgia. You can get your copy of the book here.
