Educational Programs

Eleutheran Explorers Become CEI Researchers!

[slideshow]

It’s been a busy week down here on the Cape, with our Eleutheran Explorer campers diving head first into many of the research programs currently running at CEI. Monday found them dissecting lionfish in the wet lab and feeding cobia out at the cage, while Tuesday took them to the intertidal creeks of Half Sound. There, campers explored the natural ecosystems of mangrove beds, seine netted for juvenile fish, and – most excitedly – raced our very own Bonita through the water in search of turtles! It was a successful day out in the field and was rewarded with a sleep-in on Wednesday morning.

Speaking of morning (exercise), Tuesday also found kids running and swimming, running and swimming, running and swimming through the trails and waters of the Cape Continue reading →

Educational Programs

Green Farms Academy’s Time at The Island School and CEI

We had the pleasure of hosting two groups from Green Farms Academy as a part of CEI’s Educational Programs this summer for two weeks this summer.

[slideshow]

First, a fantastic gang of GFA high school students joined us for 10 days. They participated in all aspects of life here on the Cape, rising with the sun for morning exercise into full days of exploration including trash cleanups, snorkeling, creative writing, helping Joseph plant passion fruit trees on the roof of the wood shop, and collecting wood for Ashley to put in the wood chopper. Some days ended with a camping trip on the beach, a campfire and some tasty s’mores, others with lights out early at, believe it or not, the students request! Morning exercise comes sooner than you think and each day is packed with exciting activities to engage students in sustainability, conservation, and the various Bahamian tropical ecosystems.

The following week a small crew of GFA middle school students stayed for 7 days to soak up island life with us too! Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Summer Term “This I Believe…”

1 Comment

As part of the Tourism and Development final assessment, students were asked to create a visual representation of their reflection on the past week. Students in this theme group traveled the entire length of the island, stopping in various settlements along the way to interview locals while exploring new places. Check out the stellar video made by Claire Miles, based on the NPR talkshow “This I Believe…”

Alumni, Alumni Spotlight

Alumni Spotlight: Maggie Cissel (SP’06)

Since leaving the island 6 years ago Maggie Cissel (SP’06) has been in search of a way to give back what The Island School gave her and an avenue to channel the important lessons she learned here of empowerment, sustainability and community work. Recently, she and her two friends launched a Kickstarter project that aims to fulfill these three things.

Maggie graduated from Elon University in North Carolina this past spring with a degree in Strategic Communications and an emphasis on video production. In January 2012, she had the opportunity to travel to India with Elon’s President, his wife and a professional video producer to film several documentaries for Elon’s Study Abroad office. As a result of her time there, Maggie and her two friends have decided to return to India and start a global community photography project. You can find out more about Maggie’s project on her blog, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

In reflecting upon her Island School experience, she says “I feel indebted to The Island School, Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Summer Term Journal Highlights

Greetings! Summer Term is rolling along and our students have now shifted into a new theme group for the week (Ecology, Food, or Tourism and Development). As the culminating reflection for the first week of academics, our students were asked to produce a written or visual piece encompassing their experiences within their theme, while connecting back to the question of “How do we live well in a place?” Kaelyn Burbey was immersed in studying the ecology of her surroundings and is featured here for her insightful, thought-provoking and candid written response. Enjoy!

[slideshow]

“…Working under the effulgent Bahamian sun, swimming alongside a four-eyed butterfly fish, mucking through mangroves, and eating conch with a local Bahamian fisherman leaves residual emotions connected with a place that can never be attained from the pages in a textbook. To obtain an ecological understanding of South Eleuthera, I had to slow down and sense the cadence of the land and ocean. SCUBA diving forced me into a world in which Continue reading →

Cacique Update

Cacique Update July 8, 2012

While we have been down here at the Island School, the summer 2012 Olympic trials have been going on, we are all bummed that we are missing this special event. This past Saturday for a little break the mentors arranged a South Eleuthera Olympics. The three events that we all participated in were water polo, fish identification, and a relay run swim event. All five teams enjoyed the team bonding experience. The teams were named after little towns here in South Eleuthera, called settlements. They included Deep Creek, Rock Sound, Tarpum Bay, Governor’s Harbor and Gregory Town. All of us really enjoyed this break from our academic week one. We all had fun and are all winners. On Tuesday we start academic week two.

[slideshow]

From your local Caciques Tristan and Bethlehem

Educational Programs

Eleutheran Explorers Arrive and Thrive

Summer time means camp time, and the Eleutheran Explorers – 17 youngsters from both the US and Bahamas – have jumped right in to life here on the rock. In their first two days on Eleuthera, campers have navigated the waters they now call their backyard, identifying fish and other sea creatures at both the wreck and current cut; competed against each other in a scavenger hunt around campus while learning about sustainability and designing islands of their own; experienced firsthand the formation of ooids on the sandbar; and have even found time to enjoy a Sunday night snack of S’mores around the campfire.

[slideshow]

Below are several excerpts from journals campers have been keeping: Continue reading →

Cacique Update

A Day on the Farm

Hello from Eleuthera! Our summer students have been hard at work this week, immersed in classes focusing on either Food, Ecology, or Tourism and Development. As part of the unit on food, we spent an entire day on the farm with Edrin, a local farmer in Rock Sound. Students talked with Edrin about the challenges he faces as a farmer in The Bahamas, including the summer heat and the scarcity of nutrient rich soil. We then learned about how he addresses many of these issues, and even received a private lesson on the process of grafting and budding as a means of increasing the variety of citrus fruits he is able to grow on his land. Tristan, Weston, Aiko, Molly, Megan, Isaac, Ben, Madison, Bethlehem and Lizzie were enthralled as Edrin talked and were incredibly helpful and enthusiastic when asked to pitch in and transplant some grass to small pots for his fields. Overall, it was a fun, informative and productive day that provided a unique glimpse into what food production is like in some parts of The Bahamas. For a more personal account of the day’s events, check out Bethlehem’s journal entry following this post. More updates will be coming soon to fill you in on the Ecology and Tourism and Development progress this week. Happy eating!

[slideshow]

“Today the first Foodies team, visited Edrin’s farm in Rock Sound. After Alicia’s introduction of Edrin, I was really excited to see the person behind the vast “One man farm”. When we got there Edrin was in his work cloth waiting for our arrival. He first took us to see his greenhouse garden where we got to see how he develops his plants. I had later on asked Edrin where he got the soil that he uses in his garden, and he explained that he got it from Continue reading →

Alumni

Fall 2011 Summer Reunion!

It’s reunion season! Summer is the best time of year to plan reunions and gatherings to bring together your Island School semester. Over the 4th of July holiday, 31 out of 47 members of the Fall 2011 semester traveled from far and wide to celebrate at AJ Wetherald’s home in Bristol, Rhode Island. Alumni traveled from California, Ireland, and even Australia to reunite with their friends from their semester! Yeah Fall 2011!

If your semester is planning a reunion for this summer, let us know so we can blog about it! Please email alumni@islandschool.org and be sure to include a photo!