Tag Archives: Island School

Daily Update, Island School, Student Update

STUDENT UPDATE: BASKETBALL

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to showcase my talents along with Island School kids and individuals from Deep Creek community. My friends Triston, Gus, Jeremy, Ian, Khalil and I traveled to Deep Creek along with Pat as our overseer. After arriving we shot around the court for a little while then played a warm in game to twenty-one before we picked teams ans played 4-4 basketball. In the first game the team was Pat, Ian, Michael and I against Gus, Triston, Khalil, and Jeremy. My team and I started the game out playing good basketball and we developed a good chemistry moving forward. We jumped out ahead with a big lead and then starting playing lazy which resulting in the opposing team gaining some points. However, we closed them out pretty easy once we decided play time was over.

The sun smiled its rays down on us as sweat gently dripped from our exhausted bodies. The next team to step on the court was a challenge, but I love challenges because they give you and opportunity to become better and make others better in the process. We were up against Darrel, Rachael, Cammy, and Brendan. “Screech, screech” was the sound our exotic shoes made sliding across the rouch cemented court. The game began with Darrel’s team jumping out ahead taking advantage of mismatches and leaks that they saw in our team. It was to my surprise that Rachael could play so well, she completely took advantage of my comrade Ian as Darrel bullied Michael in the post. It was time for me to stop taking a back seat, I demanding the ball and went to work scoring multiple baskets in a row. An intense game went on and no team would break first with the scored being tied 20-20 in the long run. It was our ball and the moment was bright what will I do, pass to my partners or take it the hoop and do what I do best score? I crossed over Brendan and drove to the rim as a diversion knowing in my mind that Darrel would switch over to help because he had a point to prove that he was this superstar player and wanted to advertise it to the world. Knowing that I could still try and make the shot I gave it it to an open teamate for the shot in which they missed resulting in the opposing team grabbing the rebound and claiming possession of the ball. I played defence to the best of my ability and in the corner of my eye I could see Darrel posting up Michael and asking for the ball while he was in the post up position. The thought in the back of my head flickered that Darrel would score if he got the ball and if I left Rachel to help on defence she would automatically receive the ball and it was a high percentage she would hit the shot. Therefore, I decided to stay on my opponent desperately hoping Michael would protect our basket in which he was unsuccessful in doing and resulting in our defeat. We lost that game 20-22 and yeah it was heartbreaking but I am a great competitor and use experiences to make me a better person and basketball player in life. I shook hands with everyone and exclaimed good game for I knew I would have a next opportunity in the near future to showcase my talents and this time I’ll lead my team to victory.

Danaldo Pinder

Island School, Student Update

Student Update: Deep Clean and Kayak

The first kayak group finishes their 8-day today. As we prepare for their return to campus, student Jessa VanderWeide took a moment to reflect on the moment she learned which kayak group she was in.

At about 5:00pm on Thursday afternoon on the Island School campus, the girls’ dorm was in the midst of our 2nd deep clean. As clothes were being thrown across the room, and brooms were gliding across the floor, a high pitch scream came from Girls Dorm North. Although you may think this is bizarre, it’s truly not: just your average day. Music was blaring from the common room as we continued to clean and clean and clean (oh, and clean). Our usual song was playing-Stolen Dance by Milky Chance- as we continued to prance around, removing all existence of dirt, sand, and hair that builds up as the weeks go by. Quite possibly, this deep clean was needed.

All of the sudden the whole dorm erupted in a loud scream. Girls were running around like maniacs- also not unusual. But something was different this time. A second later a loud voice echoed through our humble abode: “KAYAK GROUPS ARE UP!” This was a moment we all had waited for. Several girls threw their mops down and sprinted out the door, only to be brought back a minute later by the news that we had to finish our deep clean BEFORE we saw the groups. At this news, we completely changed into beast mode. The floor was being swept in half the time, and mops were flying around the dorm like they were magic- and everyone was lending a hand. The fact that we would soon find out our kayak groups excited us so much that we then worked as a well-oiled machine to finish the remainder of the deep clean. Teamwork like never before. As the last beds were made and towels hung, we all sprinted out the doors, down the stairs, and to the dining hall. Once again, screams were heard, and excitement was more than present for the kayak trips and next 50 days of this Island School adventure.

-Jessa VanderWeide

Students Jessa, Maddie, Noelle, Lucy and Maya clean their dorm.
Students Jessa, Maddie, Noelle, Lucy and Maya clean the south side of the dorm.
Island School

Meet your Caciques of the week!

With only half the students on campus, this week’s Caciques have done a great job of setting the tone and bringing energy to campus.
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Name: Olivia 
Where are you from?: Colorado Springs, CO
How did you find out about The Island School?: Through Colorado College, where there are a lot of alum.
Name one thing not many people know about you: I feel like people know me very well here. I started my own non-profit!
Name one thing you know about Island School that you didn’t know when you got here: I didn’t know I would go diving every week for Marine Eco
If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?: I want to have tea with the Queen of England and babysit prince George
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Name: Hanna
Where are you from?: San Francisco, CA
How did you find out about The Island School?: My brother went to HMI, so I too wanted to go to a semester school.
Name one thing not many people know about you: I’m terrified of birds!
Name one thing you know about Island School that you didn’t know when you got here: I didn’t know that we had free time to explore the island!
If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?: I’m named after my Great Great Aunt– Margarent Hannaway. Apparently she was a rebellious woman in her time. I would like to meet her.
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Name: Nally
Where are you from?: Long Island, The Bahamas
How did you find out about The Island School?: My Combined Science teacher who’s originally from Eleuthera.
Name one thing not many people know about you: I am the Jr. Minister of Tourism in Eleuthera.
Name one thing you know about Island School that you didn’t know when you got here: I can’t have food in the dorms!
If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?: LeBron James
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Name: Hayden
Where are you from?: Charlottesville, VA
How did you find out about The Island School?: I go to Lawrenceville
Name one thing not many people know about you: I’m extremely afraid of spiders!
Name one thing you know about Island School that you didn’t know when you got here: There’s an enforced bedtime
If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?: Winston Churchill
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Name: Khalil
Where are you from?: New York City
How did you find out about The Island School?: I go to Lawrenceville
Name one thing not many people know about you: I’m part German
Name one thing you know about Island School that you didn’t know when you got here: No inversions allowed
If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?: Bruce Lee’s martial arts teacher– Yip Man
Island School, Student Update

Student Update: Exploration

Several days a week, students have time dedicated in their schedule to “exploration” of the local area. Here are two takes on the value of that time.

A popular destination for exploration time is the coast near High Rock.
A popular destination for exploration time is the coast near High Rock.

The Island School is situated beside an area that was formerly a resort. The resort opened in 1972 and included cottages, a clubhouse, water towers, and a golf course. Sadly, the resort went bankrupt in 1984 and no longer exists, however the structures still do. Once you brave the 4:15 pm sign-out line in the faculty office, and push your way through the mob trying to get helmets, you are home free on your way to exploration. The classic exploration routine is to hop on your bike, get to the Marina Store as fast as possible, buy indulgence food, then head to sunset beach. While we all need that once in a while, exploration time is named such for a reason. My most memorable exploration times have consisted of exploring the abandoned area. Whether it be walking through the concrete ruins of the former resort, or sitting in the hammock at No Name beach looking for sharks, exploration time never disappoints. One of the best exploration times that I have had was a couple Sunday’s ago. A group of about 14 of my friends and I spent the day exploring the inner loop, snorkeling, and devoting time to new places. The day consisted of trying to get lost in the inner loop, exploring high rock, getting a communal snack, and then heading to sunset beach to play beach volleyball, swim, and lay in the sun. That is a typical exploration time for Island School students, a ‘tingum’ we will remember for the rest of our lives.

-Olivia Rask

A group of girls hang out at Sunset Beach during exploration. Back row: Sophie, Ali, Maya, Lane, Noelle, Olivia, Nelle. Front row: Madeline, Hanna
A group of girls hang out at Sunset Beach during exploration. Back row: Sophie, Ali, Maya, Lane, Noelle, Olivia, Nelle. Front row: Madeline, Hanna

Here at the Island School, we’re lucky enough to be the recipients of unfettered freedom. There aren’t many other places where, three times a week (or less if we have yet another deep clean), the adults responsible for your wellbeing tell you, “Have fun exploring the wilderness!” That allowance of our own time—truly doing what ever we want to do—is incredibly freeing. However, at the Island School, that freedom can sometime flicker and disappear like a mirage. Most of the time we are working hard, nose to the grindstone, with everyone stressing out about the workload that is put upon the student body. In our three study hours, there is always just enough time to finish everything to you to get done, but it’s always a constant struggle to get to that next paper or homework reading. Even though it’s hard, I think that our curriculum here is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever been a part of. Our full understanding of the place we live in is refreshing. Despite the fact that we are pressed into this hard schedule, and that’s why it feels so good to get time to unwind and explore.

-Hal Triedman

Island School, Student Update

Student Update: Dish Crew

Every day, advisories team up to tackle the post meal dishes. On Thursdays, Olivia and Tom Bunn’s advisories can be found jamming to music as they scrub, sweep and mop. Here’s what student Noelle Henderson has to say about dish crew.

Students Olivia, Nally and Nick busy at work on the dishes.
Students Olivia, Nally and Nick busy at work on the dishes.

Scrubbing each dish to the beat of the music, Thursday dish crew gets ready to tackle the big dinner dishes. From 6:50 to 7:15 we have one focus: finish the dishes. As I turn up my dish crew playlist, we all mentally prepare for the rush of dirty plates that are about to land themselves in our sanitized hands. One by one we scrub down each dish and pass it down the assembly line to be sanitized and washed again. While our hands simultaneously scrub, our voices sing in unison. Although the rush of dinner dish crew is an exciting part of the experience, the best part comes when we clean the last dish and move onto the mops. Only two people can mop at a time, but no one is allowed to leave until the whole job is done. While those two lucky candidates mop away, every member of Thursday dish crew, also known as the best dish crew ever, dances around them. Smiles and laughter illuminate the dish room. Students, Teachers, and CEI researchers all come together and let themselves go for these few minutes. Forgetting about the homework, research or grading we all have to do later that night, we allow ourselves to be swept away by the moment and the rhythm of the music. Although I have always associated cleaning dishes with a punishment, here at the Island School it has become a Thursday tradition that I actually look forward too.

-Noelle

Students Hal and Olivia take a break from dishes to strike a pose.
Students Hal and Olivia take a break from dishes to strike a pose.
Island School

Meet your Caciques of the week!

This week’s Caciques helped guide the student body through a rigorous academic week and kept things light with a campus-wide game of assassin (the winner has yet to be crowned). Here’s a little bit about them.

Margaret

Name: Margaret Kelly
Where are you from?: Concord, MA
How did you find out about The Island School?: My sister went here is SP13
Name one thing not many people know about you: I have a birthmark in the inside of my ear.
Name one thing you know about Island School that you didn’t know when you got here: That morning exercise is actually fun!
If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?: Jesse McCartney– he’s a teen pop sensation!
Stephen
Name: Stephen Gallagher
Where are you from?: Fairfield, CT
How did you find out about The Island School?: My neighbor, Caroline Lewis, went.
Name one thing not many people know about you: I’ve lived all over the place– Ireland, Singapore and Jamaica. I have a slight Irish accent.
Name one thing you know about Island School that you didn’t know when you got here: I didn’t know we would have so much freedom as we do.
If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?: Julian Casablanca– he’s the singer for the Strokes.
Locke
Name: Locke Curtis
Where are you from?: Asheville, NC
How did you find out about The Island School?: My mom knew about it for some reason. But they came and spoke at my school.
Name one thing you know about Island School that you didn’t know when you got here: You’re literally on the ocean! You can hear waves at night before you go to sleep.
If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?: Jon Stewart!
Jessie
Name: Jessie Gray
Where are you from?: Freeport, ME
How did you find out about The Island School?: Because lots of people in my school go. Lucy, this semester’s brother went. We talked about IS a lot.
Name one thing you know about Island School that you didn’t know when you got here: They make their own biodiesel
If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?: That’s a big question! Bob Marley and Rosa Parks, at a dinner, together at Island School.
Hal
Name: Hal Triedman
Where are you from?: Brookline, MA
How did you find out about The Island School?: Because a lot of my family has gone!
Name one thing you know about Island School that you didn’t know when you got here: That it’s possible to have 15hr days every single day.
If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?: Herbie Hancock
Island School

Good Luck K1!

The first kayak group headed out this morning! We’re looking forward to hearing their stories in 8 days.

Members of K1 (back row from left): Dakota, Leigh, Tom, Brendan, Nick, Haley, Jessa, Wyatt, Hadley, Delphine, Patrick, (seated from left): Jeremy, Colleen and Cole dressed and ready to go!
Members of K1 (back row from left): Dakota, Leigh, Tom, Brendan, Nick, Haley, Jessa, Wyatt, Hadley, Delphine, Patrick, (seated from left): Jeremy, Colleen and Cole dressed and ready to go!
Island School, Student Update

Student Update: Research

Students have been busy this week pouring over the data they have collected all semester in Research class and trying to make sense of their results. Here’s what student Khalil has to say about his research experience.

In a twenty-minute boat ride from The Island School boathouse, you may see a buoy. Beneath this buoy or pair of buoys there is a rope that reaches eight-hundred to one-thousand one-hundred meters beneath the water, leading to 22-26 hooks catching sharks and occasionally bony fish, or it holds a 7 foot cage holding gulper sharks and Cuban dogfish and a few cameras for The Cape Eluethera Institute and Island School scientists to investigate the post-release mortality rate and factors effecting the mortality rate of gulper sharks and Cuban dogfish. In a group of six Island School students and two CEI researchers as teachers, we are researching to study and find the death rate of gulper sharks and Cuban dogfish after they have been caught and released on long-lines as by-catch by commercial fisheries. We also study the factors that affect the mortality rates. In doing this research project I have had a lot of fun, and we have become experts in gulper shark and Cuban dogfish taxonomy, and stress responses, and we are great at pulling up long-lines even in hard-rocking waves and rain. We joke with our teacher, telling him that we will save the sharks, and that his spirit animal is a Cuban dogfish, even though our goal is to inform fishery management, and everyone knows his spirit animal is actually a cheetah.  All in all I have learned a lot and had a lot of fun in Shark research.

Members of the Deep Sea Shark research team Lucy, Noelle, Olivia, Maya, Stephen and Khalil pose with their advisors Alp and Brendan.
Members of the Deep Sea Shark research team Lucy, Noelle, Olivia, Maya, Stephen and Khalil pose with their advisors Alp and Brendan.
Island School, Student Update

Student Update: Free diving

Every Wednesday and Sunday students have the opportunity to rise early and go for a morning free dive. Student Nat Davenport took some time this week to reflect on what free diving means to him.

My experience at The Island School has been an onslaught of new activities and things to do.  That being said, one constant in my life here has been free diving. Ever since that first Wednesday morning I have been to every single one since then. I have found that it really relaxes me and clears my mind of everything except the task at hand. I have had a lot of fun seeing myself progress over the course of the semester and can’t wait to see where I end up.