At the beginning of the semester, each Island School student is paired up with a ‘buddy’ from Deep Creek Middle School. Every Thursday at precisely 1:10 we meet at the flag pole and prepare to travel to DCMS to help them work on their final projects. There are a variety of projects ranging from AIDs and HIV awareness, to self-image for girls. Each group is a team of 6, three Deep Creek Middle School students (9^th, 8^th, and 7^th graders) and their three Island School buddies.

This past Tuesday was no ordinary Community Outreach. Our group piled into a van and headed over to Tarpum Bay primary school for our drug awareness event led by Patron, a 9^th grader at DCMS. Our group of 6 stood up in front of a class of 6^th graders for the culminating event. We performed a short skit to educate about peer pressure and drug use. After the skit, Patron asked the kids questions about what they had just learned. It turns out we had left the questions we prepared at the school so we all had to wing it and come up with questions on the spot. The kids were eager to participate and with each question, around 10 hands shot up. After we exhausted the questions, Patron took the kids to the basketball court to show them the safe and fun alternative to drug use. We played three different basketball games which lasted around an hour and a half. Towards the end we got to take a break and cupcakes, lollipops, and lemonade were handed out. The kids were very excited to be outside, and it turned into a family event where cars stopped to watch and siblings came to join us. Although it veered a little from the drug education, overall everyone had a great time and Patron was so proud of how well his big event came together.

The group came back to the school with a sugar high and exceeded expectations. We had missed advisory time but it was well worth it. Our class had turned into an adventure and our buddies had become our close friends.

-Colleen McGuinness

From left to right we have Kristal, Shawnea, Breanna, and Mr. Simmons. The night was a big success and raised money to help the cause.

This picture shows the students in the plastic awareness group presenting their project. They are from left to right: Tyrin, Matt, Peter C, Kylisa, Jack, and Garric. They presented their project and showed the harmful effects of plastic on both people and the world. Both the cancer group and the plastic group prepared amazing videos to demonstrate the goals of their project. Excellent work by both groups! At the event, a table was set up to sell plastic jewelry made by the students and collect donations for The Cancer Society.

From left to right we have Keniesha, Travona,Tyrin, Demetria, and Zyria in the back row and Dashae up front. The night was a huge success for both groups and the students have loved working on the projects together.

Written by: Michael M and Shaquille

After watching the movie, we went over to DCMS for the Basketball Jamboree.  [slideshow]We got out of the van, and the smell of conch fritters and fried chicken was in the air, music was playing, and kids were shooting around on the basketball court.  The first game started and people gathered around the basketball court to watch the 10-minute game.  When people weren’t playing, they were talking around picnic tables with their buddies and friends, waiting for their game to start, or just hanging out with their buddies for the last time.  We got through about 7 games before it was time for the DCMS bus to leave to take people home.  When the bus was about to leave, people were running around frantically trying to find their buddies so they could say goodbye.  I was in the van about to leave because I thought my buddy was about to leave, and I saw her heading into the classroom to pick up her backpack, so I sprinted out of the van to give her a hug and take a picture before we both left.  CO this semester has been a lot of fun, and it has been great to learn about school and life on Eleuthera through our buddies.

Grade 7 Students of DCMS and their “buddies” from The Island School are on a journey to educate themselves about the natural heritage of our islands. We are partnering with 40,000 schools around the world in the eco-schools federation to make a brighter greener future. Bahamian schools are focusing on the often-overlooked issue of native biodiversity.

To date we have:

• Planted more than 100 native seeds.
• Carved out a forest trail in the native forest behind the school.
• Educated ourselves and each other, on the medicinal uses of native plants. High lights include – the cascarilla bark used to make Campari liquor, sage, which can treat measles and “chick pops” (as we call them here), the delicious pigeon plum, the ubiquitous gum elemi and its dangerous companion poison wood.
• Identified the key invasive species threatening the Bahamian ecosystem.

We look forward to:

• Landscaping our school with Native plants
• Creating and sampling native bush teas, dyes and plant crafts
• Sharing our journey with other students on Eleuthera and around the world

Grade 7 students love their buddies and have organised a routine for their arrival every day that includes shaking everyone’s hand and singing our class “silly songs” together. (Ask your student about the adventures of the little green frog when you next speak)  Island school students have been whole heartedly committed to furthering our project goals and many have shown a great interest in the unique natural heritage of our island. They have enjoyed a the old island pass time of “ramblin’ in da bush” and getting their hands dirty in the garden.

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Experts at The Island School were interviewed by the students and provided excellent insight into each projects focus.  The grade 8’s started by working with Joseph, who brought students to “compost land” and let them see firsthand The Island School’s compost piles. He explained the system they use as well as the previous models they have tried. It was great for the students to see compost in action, as well as to find out about some of the potential problems and how to avoid or fix them. He explained how to help compost breakdown most efficiently and how it needed attention and care. Both DCMS and Island School students had plenty of questions about how compost worked.

Next, the grade 8’s visited with Josh from CEI and discussed further the benefits of using compost rather than throwing away organic waste. Josh had some excellent insight and discussed many of the advantages to compost from the smallest bacteria and animals to the humans who eventually got nutrient rich soil to start an at home garden. Josh continued to talk about the negative side effects of throwing away organic material and how it affected local plants, animals and people.

After both interviews the grade 8’s and their buddies had a brainstorming session on how to use all of the information they had received. Some great ideas were brought out of it and students walked away knowing so much more. As DCMS students said goodbye to their buddies and walked back to the vans there was energy and excitement all around, the grade 8 class looks forward to next Monday and being able to start educating the community about composing and how everyone can be doing it at home.  A big thank you goes out to Josh and Joseph for their time and excellent insight for all of the groups.

We started things off today with a food scavenger hunt. In buddy pairs, students found examples of local and imported foods and interviewed Deep Creek farmers, storeowners, and residents—as well as had fun eating frozen tamarind cups and getting to know each other.

Check out these pictures of our first day!

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Over the course of the semester we have worked closely with Deep Creek Middle School to help improve problems facing the community here on Eleuthera. Our group assisted Moesha Leary’s project on Haitian Bahamian relations in attempts to combat the discrimination of Haitians in The Bahamas. Moesha, her DCMS peers, and their Island School Community Outreach buddies planned an event to educate the community about Haitians’ culture and to celebrate the similarities and differences between Haiti and The Bahamas. The event was a success and had a great turn out. Many people were inspired by what they saw and heard there. They left with a new perspective of the Haitian community in The Bahamas. The documentary “Can You See Us?”  which chronicles the struggles of young Haitian Bahamians and the discussion that followed the film were among the highlights of the night. The evening had a fiery ending as both the Bahamian and the Haitians gave performances specific to their cultures including a fire show. It united the beauty of the two cultures and brought people together. You can read more about the event in an article in The Eleutheran newspaper here.

- Kira, Kyle, Will, Moesha, & Dana

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At Deep Creek Middle School, the eighth graders and their Island School buddies have been working on the issue dengue fever. The class has divided into many smaller groups to work on projects such as the radio group, print media, standing water, and the community presentation group.

The radio group is going to record a public service announcement to put on the radio about the facts of Dengue fever. The best part of it is that we get help Bahamians learn about how to prevent getting Dengue fever or what to do if they have it. It is also lots of fun to add sound effects to impress people.

The standing water group will remove standing water to keep away the mosquitoes and prevent them from reproducing.  They said that the best part about it is getting to walk around in different settlements and finding water to get rid of.

The print media group will create fliers, posters, and pamphlets to distribute to increase awareness about Dengue fever.

The community presentation group will do a power point at schools and churches about Dengue fever. The best part about it is that they have the privilege to get out and teach other students about what they know about Dengue fever.

The home visits group go to people’s houses, question them about dengue fever, and find out how many people in that household have been diagnosed with Dengue fever. The best part about the home visit group is that they get to walk around to different houses and get to know more people in the nearby communities.