Today is almost another first day of classes. Yesterday, after half of the students completing their first timed Run/Swim, we began Math and Human Ecology classes. However, today will be the start of a whole new set of classes including Histories, Literature, and our first research classes! The students are very excited to divide into the groups that they selected to work on and to begin their learning. Continue reading
DCMS Students Present at Green Conference in Denver
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On February 26th, three students from Deep Creek Middle School departed for Denver, Colorado to attend the National Green Schools Conference where they had been invited to present their work to students from all over the United States. Eighth graders Keniesha Pinder (Tarpum Bay), Shanice Symonette (Rock Sound) and seventh grader Zachary Carey (Tarpum Bay) delivered poster presentations on “How to Create a Recycling System at your School” and “Middle School Aquaponics.” The audience was students and teachers who were interested in creating sustainable changes in their communities. “People were really excited about our ideas, a lot of people said they wanted to try aquaponics at their schools”, explains Shanice.
DCMS students also had the opportunity to attend workshops given by student and professionals that pertained to environmental topics that interested them. “I’ve learned all kinds of things that I want to do at DCMS and in my own settlement” says Zachary Carey of Tarpum Bay. Some of the more impressive workshops had students dreaming up ideas to use to improve their school and island. Some of these ideas include: developing Continue reading
Daily Update March 12, 2012
Today, the Island School Community awaits the beginning of classes. Both faculty and students wait to see how they can work together to learn. Over the weekend, we jumped into the semester from High Rock and held a Commencement from Orientation ceremony, where we all pledged to work form a dynamic and tightly knit community. On Sunday, the students, and faculty, enjoyed their first day off. Adventures ranged from snorkeling and diving, to exploring, to enjoying the coffee shop, and getting rest on the beach. This morning, we will enjoy our first timed Run/Swim, as well as our first Math and Human Ecology classes. The anticipation is strong, but the community is excited for their more regular schedule. Though the first day is classes is normally a thing of dread, the community is eager and happy to begin their academic journey.
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Daily Updates from Eric Witte
Now that the semester course has transitioned out of the orientation period, we begin a more rhythmic academic schedule. For the rest of the semester, look for Daily Updates about the Island School experience. Every two weeks a different student will be in charge of Daily Updates and he or she will use chore time to write and publish these. Look for updates all “chore days” including Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. For the next two weeks, student Eric Witte will be giving you his personal, thoughtful, detailed descriptions of the Island School Journey. First, enjoy a thoughtful reflection he wrote last week about his shifting perspective. Later today, look for his very first Daily Update…
Erik Witte: Arriving at the Island School has pushed me to make a lot of changes in my habits. Continue reading
Sustainability in Exile
Island School Marine Ecology teacher, Peter Zdrojewski, has been spreading the news of his friend and grad school advisor – Dr. Jonathan Scherch – who has recently put together a documentary “Sustainability in Exile.” The documentary is focused on his work with Tibetan refugees and their movement away from monoculture, corporate cash cropping and back to sustainable agriculture/permaculture. You can check out a preview of the movie here.
The film is part of the iPic Redmond Film Festival, focused on earth preservation, so if you enjoy the clip and would like to vote for it, please go to http://www.facebook.com/IPicRedmond?sk=app_175392659238041
Jonathan’s work has been inspiring and provides a much needed collaboration with an already distressed community. Hope you enjoy!
A View of South Eleuthera from Space!
The Huffington Post released a number of amazing photos taken by the International Space Station (ISS). One of the photos they released is of our home in South Eleuthera! Scroll to the bottom of the article to see the southern part of the beautiful island of Eleuthera from space.
Thanks Bekah Klarr (S’04) for bringing this photo to our attention!
More from Week Two
By: Natalie, Annie, Tai, Kyle T, Lucy, Ann-Marie, Sterling, Greg: It may seem rough to leave behind cell-phones, telephone, and Internet, but we have happily replaced these “tings” with place-based learning. This week in math class, we took a boat out to the sand bar to examine the ooids that make up the island’s foundation. Scientists flock from all over the world to study these geological wonders of theBahamas. We also calculated the distance to the horizon from our location. Yesterday we took our first breaths under-water for SCUBA certification, which is part of our Marine Ecology class. We will use this still to learn about the different ecosystems that surround us. We’re excited to start our research projects this week, which range from mangroves to lemon sharks. Best of all, on Friday night we made new friends around a bonfire rather than on Facebook. Now how many high school students can say all of that?
Kyle Forness: Today as I sat under the gazebo free-writing with Felix I thought of how well the gazebo represented The Island School and its ideals. Starting from the top down, the thatched roof made of dried indigenous leaves stood for how The Island School is conscious and tries to incorporate the culture of The Bahamas into our schooling as well as a sheltered safe place for us to grow and learn. Continue reading
Perspectives from Week Two
Sometimes at Island School, things don’t always go as planned. So, when the weather isn’t right for SCUBA week, find other worthwhile ways for students to spend their time, like clearing the path out to Deals Beach, or sitting down to do some extra-blogging. Enjoy these reflections written by K3 and K4 in their downtime between dives…
Will Gold: Last Saturday the whole Island school headed into Deep Creek, which is the closest town for a cook out and a softball game with the local people. When we arrived they had their grill up and running and were cooking steak, chicken and fish. I had the fish just to see what it
was like. It was given to me with the head and everything still on it so it looked pretty gross but when you picked the meat and skin off they were delicious! We went and walked around town after that which was pretty small but interesting.
When we got back the softball game was already underway. There was a mix of people playing in the outfield of locals mostly kids about my age and people I recognized from the Island School. Little local kids were running around playing fun games with some of the girls from school, teaching each other some songs and rhythms. There was a really strong sense of community as every one was laughing and talking smack. It felt really good to be apart of because it reminded me of home. I joined right away and started in the out field somewhere between second and third. Continue reading
Women Working for Oceans
Kirsten Dawson (IS Parent F04, F06, F08), is part of a newly formed organization, Women Working for Oceans or W20. The organization was started by a group of women near the Boston area who are concerned about the health of the planet’s oceans and want to do something about it. The mission of W2O is to inform individuals about the challenges facing oceans and inspire action to ensure a healthy, sustainable blue planet for tomorrow. W20 works in partnership with the New England Aquarium, a global leader in marine education and conservation.
Having had several successful events last spring and fall, W2O is gearing up for speaker Dianna Cohen of the Plastics Pollution Coalition to address the serious problem of plastics polluting the oceans. Please see the below Save the Date to their April 10th event. All are welcome and encouraged to attend!
For more information about W20, please visit their website: www.womenworkingforoceans.org, or visit them on Facebook. Feel free to contact Kirsten directly at kirsten.m.dawson@gmail.com. Please come join them, get involved, and help build a wave of action for change to help protect our oceans.
Student Update March 2, 2012
by Cacique Sterling Wright
Today was the first day of kayak/scuba week. After the mad rush on Saturday to see which students were in what kayak group and what research project they been assigned to, the students are getting slowly split into different groups. Us students are figuring out that we’re at a school not on vacation, and we can’t just do whatever we want. The students were split into four groups (K1, K2, K3, K4), K1 and K2 left on their first down island kayak trip, which will be for three days. While K3-4 are split into groups for SCUBA diving instruction for the next few days. Continue reading