Spring 2007 alumna, Hilary Waleka, recently sent us a link to a post on her blog. In this post, she wrote about querencias. Ever since attending Island School and learning about the meaning of a querencia, Hilary has sought out a special place for her to reflect and be aware of her sense of place in a number of places she has lived and traveled to. In this blog post, she shares her most recent querencia spot: http://hilarywalecka.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/querencia/
Alumni Spotlight: Krissy Truesdale (F’13)!
Fall 2013 alumna Krissy Truesdale had an impressive resume even before she attended The Island School this year, having started her own charity, Solar for Our Superheroes. Since returning home after her semester ended in December, Krissy has been keeping herself very busy and making huge strides with her growing non-profit. We heard from Krissy earlier this week who gave us a complete run-down on the project, from how it all began to where the project stands now:
The thinking began something like this: I felt responsible to do something, anything, about climate change, and began looking at the world with eyes on the prowl for ideas. During this “brainstorming” period, I went on a family vacation to Texas, and when flying home, I noticed each of the cookie cut homes below me extending for miles and miles. In each home I imagined my family; my sister playing XBox downstairs, my mom cooking in the kitchen, me reading a book in my room under the lamplight. I imagined a little puff of CO2 popping up over each home and forming a massive cloud engulfing the neighborhood. Being miles high in the sky, I played God, and pretended to plop solar panels on each home one by one, making the cloud grow smaller and smaller until there was just a gaping, growing hole in the expanse. The image stuck with me and the idea to get solar panels to people was born.
Deciding who to give solar panels to was pretty easy. I have always had profound respect for those who dedicate their lives to serving others. My Grampy was a big factor for this. He was a firefighter, the fire house cook, an electrician, plumber, and father. Saving lives didn’t pay very well, hence the other jobs he took on, but he still found a way and was an example of selflessness I hope to replicate. I also have many other family members in service, and my sister hopes to join a branch of the military when she gets older. Therefore I aimed the project at helping local “superheroes”, specifically veterans, teachers, firefighters, and police officers. The idea was to have neighbors recognize and get to know their heroes, save them some money, and promote renewable energy, which then would have myriad effects like promoting energy independence, cleaner communities, and of course, carbon reduction. Our community leaders could also be leaders in renewable energy. After running the idea by a number of people in the field, it turns out all kinds of people from different backgrounds were respected as leaders. For that reason, the decision was passed on to the communities. The areas that are the most active fundraising and spreading the word are also the neighborhoods who get to decide who to recognize. We still focus on the categories, but are no longer limited to them.
In the past few months, we have made a number of strides. We are officially incorporated in the state of Massachusetts under Honoring Our Mother Earth Inc., and Solar for Our Superheroes is our first project. We are nearly finished with the 501c3 paperwork to become an official charity, and we have had a lawyer helping us for free which as been a huge blessing. We’ve also set the goal at raising $10,000 by the end of the summer, and we are getting there through many means. Recently, by chocolate bar and lemonade stand sales, but we have a larger concert fundraiser in the works for the end of the summer. Our fundraisers are always looking for ways to get people involved and get to know each other, as a big part of what we do is recognizing our neighbors. We have hit roughly $200 of that goal so far so we still have a ways to go for sure, but I just got out of school and will be giving it my all this summer! We have been recruiting volunteers to help with various aspects on nonprofit work and have found a few people very committed to helping over the summer. We also just found help with some marketing and a logo designer. We have coverage with our local Coffee News, and will be having our own newsletter coming out this summer! Everything from the legal to the organizational to the actual raising money is just taking off and really gaining momentum. I look forward to the process! If you want to learn more about Solar For Our Superheroes and our fundraising efforts, visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/solar4heroes.
I also recently gave a TEDx talk at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, MA about starting a nonprofit. It was certainly the highlight of my spring! Public speaking gives me such a thrill! Between being the first to go on stage and being the only female (and teenage) at the event, I was nervous, but it went really well!
The future looks bright and I look forward to experimenting with fundraising and learning the best methods to Solar to our Superheroes. Personally, I look forward to learning, failing a few times, and getting closer to making my favorite corner of the world a cleaner, greener, and more friendly place.
Congratulations Krissy on all of your hard work and accomplishments! We cannot wait to hear of your future successes with Solar for Our Superheroes–and beyond!
Permaculture Design Course (PDC) This August!
Have you ever been curious about permaculture? Are you itching grow your own food? Do you dream of transforming your yard into an edible oasis? If any of that sounds appealing to you, then come down and join us for our Permaculture Design Course that we’ll be hosting this summer from August 4-18.This course will give exactly the skills and knowledge you need to turn your brown thumb into a decidedly green one! It can also be the starting point for anyone who is considering practicing or teaching permaculture as a career, as this course is recognized worldwide as the first level of professional certification for permaculture.
We’ll spend two solid weeks learning about the fundamentals of permaculture design, going through topics such as permaculture principles and ethics, soils, gardening, design strategies, aquaponics, animal systems, urban permaculture, and a lot more. We’ll also be getting our hands dirty making compost, grafting trees, learning propagation techniques, visiting farms, creating gardens, and engaging in other hands-on activities. And best of all you’ll be learning with other like-minded students with the same curiosity and passion for the natural world. The makeup of these courses tends to be very diverse, with ages ranging from people fresh out of high school with no experience even planting a seed, to professionals in their 40s and 50s looking to drastically change their lifestyle, to people in their 60s or 70s with years of experience working in agricultural settings who want to take their gardening powers to the next level.
Our motto at the Island School is “the campus is the classroom”; we’re big believers in experiential learning. So where else to teach permaculture design than our impressive permaculture systems right here on campus! Permaculture is a part of everything we do here. Guavas, cherries, natal plums, papaya, and dozens of medicinal and edible plants line our campus pathways. Our 40,000 liter aquaponic system nestled right next to our research wetlab provides us with fresh lettuce and herbs every day, and lots of tilapia for the dinner table. A rotational animal system keeps our pigs and goats happy, clean, and healthy with a continuous supply of fresh pasture. Our forest garden in the back of campus is a great place for staff and students to take a walk and unwind, but it’s also a diversified orchard with over a dozen kinds of fruit that can provide the perfect snack on a hot day. And of course we have our nursery and gardens where we can propagate and plant a wide variety of edible crops. These systems are not only productive and ecologically regenerative, but they some of the best learning tools we have on campus.
The instructors for this course will be Adam Dusen and experienced Caribbean permaculture teacher Erle Rahaman-Noronha. Adam’s experience in permaculture has had him working at and designing permaculture systems in Pennsylvania, Thailand, Sweden, Kenya, and The Bahamas. He now manages the permaculture and aquaponics systems here at the Island School, and also teaches about permaculture and sustainable agriculture at the brand new Center for Sustainable Development.
Erle has been teaching permaculture professionally and conducting workshops not only where he lives in Trinidad, but also in Grenada, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, The US Virgin Islands, and St. Lucia. He also manages his own permaculture farm, Wa Samaki Ecosystems, and knows first-hand what it takes to run a farm that is not only ecologically and socially productive, but economically profitable. Erle is becoming quite well-known for his permaculture prowess, and was recently featured in his own TED talk on the subject. Check it out!
If you are interested in attending, check out our website for more information on pricing, accommodation, and anything else you might want to know. You can register for the course or send any inquries by contacting Adam at adamdusen@csdbahamas.org. Places in these courses tend to fill fast, so don’t wait too long to register!
DIY Down Island Trip!
Ever think of coming back to Eleuthera and doing some exploring? Well, we are making it easy for you with this Do It Yourself Down Island Trip (DIY-DIT) guide. Check out the sites, eat some local food and relive the down island trip you took as a student. To make the trip a little sweeter, don’t forget to check out the great deals at the Cape Eleuthera Marina & Resort for Island School alumni and alumni families. The Friends and Family discount is only available through December 22, 2014. Be sure to drop by campus and say hello as you set out on your DIT!
You can download a copy of the map here: DIT map.
Second Annual Nantucket Run-Swim July 12!
By far the best experience of my life
On Wednesday my research group, Deepwater, along with the lemon shark research group set out to have our fun field day.
It was our last field day of the entire semester and we were all excited to do something exciting. We all arrive at the boathouse, ready to go when our research advisors tell us we are doing something completely horrible: hand hauling. Now, here is some explanation of what that is. In deepwater research, a series of traps were dropped to depths between 500 and 1200 meters. To haul these traps to the surface, we use an electric pot hauler. But when that breaks, there is 1000+ meters of line to hand haul, and that is what our research advisors told us we were doing on what was supposed to be our fun field day.
We all hop on the boats, two pangas, and begin driving to the oceanic shelf in the Exuma Sound, which is what we use as a proxy for depth in deepwater research. As we drive out, we see our buoys and begin to hand haul. After about 2/3 of the line is hauled and coiled into a bucket, our advisors gather us together and tell us that they in fact did not drop regular traps, they dropped a deepwater scientific long line!! A long line consists of a series of baited hooks (our long line had 29 hooks), which are meant to catch animals such as sharks. Species like a gulper shark and Cuban Dogfish are common deepwater sharks that researchers here have pulled up.
I heard our teachers say that we could go in the water and I immediately leaped in with all the other students. I could see the hooks in the water – nothing so far. I keep staring, hoping that soon I would see something. Jeff, one of our teachers, comes up from a free dive and gives a thumbs up. There is something on the line.
I can slowly see an outline of a shark appearing, getting larger and larger till it reaches the surface and in front of me is a 10+ foot Blunt Nose Six-Gill shark. Right in front of me.
All the students take their cameras to capture this moment.
Our teachers tie the shark to the side of the boat so that it lays half in the water, half out. This was not difficult because the shark is completely disoriented, as it is not in its own habitat. The shark we pulled up is from 760meters deep and being at the surface, or even in shallow waters, confuses all the senses of the shark. In addition, the shark had been hooked for several hours and after being pulled out of its habitat, was extremely stressed. It did not have the drive to fight because all its energy would be primarily placed in trying to protect itself in survival. They begin to take measurements and samples from the shark while all the rest of us sit in the water and watch in amazement. It was the first time any of us, the students that is, had seen a shark anything over 4feet.
I am still in amazement that we caught a blunt nose six gill shark. I was able to see its gills flap in the water, its mouth open to show off its numerous teeth.
The body swaying side to side as Jeff swam it back down and then let it swim free back down to its home of 760meters deep.
I watched it until it disappeared into the navy blue, by which time we all had to hop on the boats and head back to campus.
By far the best experience of my life.
by Julia Forster
Photos by Brendan James
I’ve Always Wanted to be a Scientist
A core part of the Island School curriculum is research class, which is taught by CEI (Cape Eleuthera Institute) researchers.
Research class is a crucial part of the semester because of how much responsibility is left to the students throughout the class/study. In research class, our teachers let students own their project, which allows for the students to truly understand and learn everything about their study. Students do everything from write research papers, to give presentations, to collect and analyze data all the data collected throughout our fieldwork. Research has been my favorite part of the semester and I cannot wait to give our presentation to researchers and government officials next week.
This semester, the research classes offered were Stingrays, Turtles, Flats, Conch, Sustainable fisheries, Lemon Sharks, Lionfish, and Deepwater.
Stingrays research is studying the dietary habits of Yellow Stingrays in correlation to electro-sensory detection [a sense used by stingrays to detect the electric field produced by every organism].
In Turtles research, they are studying how predators and vegetation influence the abundance and distribution of Green Turtles.
In Flats research, they are assessing anthropogenic impacts on tidal creek systems.
In Conch research, they are studying the population density of Queen Conch in Cape Eleuthera.
Sustainable Fisheries is studying the local opinions of fishermen surrounding marine conservation efforts.
Lemon Shark research is studying how much energy a shark expends when being captured and handled, specifically when caught on a long line.
In Lionfish, they are determining the prey preference of lionfish, as it is an invasive species in the Bahamas (and everywhere outside of the Indo-Pacific).
And finally in Deepwater research, we are studying to find baseline data of deepwater species in depths of 500-1200meters within the Exuma Sound, as it has never been studied before.
We started off this semester of Research with orientation, which was followed by several weeks of fieldwork. In the midst of our fieldwork weeks, we had a project introduction presentation. This consisted of sharing and introducing our study with the rest of the Island School community. Since then we have analyzed field data, put together presentations that we presented to our parents, and next week we will be presenting to researchers and government officials from around the world.
by Julia, Boden and Fiona
Half Marathon & Super Swim FundRacer!
There’s no doubt that one highlight of an Island School semester is the half-marathon and super swim, which gives students and faculty the chance to push themselves to levels of physical extremity that seemed impossible just three months prior.
Our Human Ecology group’s idea was to fundraise for the Cape Eleuthera Foundation, and we decided that we could raise money by giving others a glimpse into the individual stories of 5 athletes training for their big event.
Our group project was aptly named “Fundracer.” A boy and a girl from both the swim and run tracks were selected, as well as a faculty member, who were filmed during exercise and interviewed. Although their experience and athletic abilities vary, it is clear that each athlete has been giving it their all—day in and day out.
Each of the 5 participants are representing a specific branch of the Cape Eleuthera Foundation, which are The Island School, Early Learning Center (ELC), Center for Sustainable Development (CSD), Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI), and the Deep Creek Middle School (DCMS). Whether alum or parent, it is easy to relate and become inspired by the stories of each athlete and the progress that has been made so far.
To donate each cause click here but make sure to specify which cause you’re supporting by leaving the following comment on the Give page: ‘FundRacer: Student/Faculty Name’
Stay tuned in the near future for an update video before the big events. Your support keeps our community thriving; any donation is much appreciated. Thanks for reading & we hope you enjoy our videos!
Thank you from Baylor, Avery and Zach
Spring 2014 Parents Weekend Arrival Video
Spring 2014 Parents Weekend!
The tables were set and the food was ready, all that was missing were the parents. Sure enough at 5 o’clock sharp cars started rolling into the driveway. Students massed together outside the girls dorm waiting excitedly for their parents to finally arrive and cheering when each student ran and gave their family the much anticipated hug.
The next few hours were spent giving tours of the beautiful campus and showing off the art gallery.
At 6:30 we gather to circle and for the first time as we counted off we were all together and the parents were already learning about life at The Island School.
Dinners with advisory groups followed and at 8 o’clock families were ushered off of campus so that we could prepare for our research presentations the next day.
Thursday morning parents continued to learn about the Island School when they joined their students during morning exercise and either participated in run or swim track.
Morning exercise was followed by breakfast with our families and then the much anticipated research presentation.
After the presentations we gathered at the flagpole to pose for a parent’s weekend group photo and then geared up for an afternoon filled with student-teacher conferences.
Friday morning we gathered as a group at 6:30 to prepare for a run to High Rock where we watched our families take the jump just like we did at the beginning of the semester.
The day was filled with directors presentations and the opening of The Center for Sustainable Development!
Friday night was highly anticipated as it was the coffee house! Highlights included a rap by Sam, Cole and Max, a father daughter guitar duet and a group sing along lead by Sam’s dad Ernie Parizeau.
Saturday was spent exploring the Island as students led their parents throughout Eleuthera. Many spent there time exploring beaches all around, eating lots of food and enjoying time with their families. And now we are trying to make the most of our 17 days left of the semester. Now that we are in our last academic week, we are starting to look forward to the finals ahead, the half marathon and the super swim, the research symposium and our last few weeks with our best friends.
by Faith, Patrick, Julia, Robin and Boden