We have saved the best for last! This week the web page is brought to you by George's advisory group, Chloe, Sally, Tyler, Ellie and Katie. This past week was pretty ordinary - (whatever that means in this land of constant activity and discovery), but we have done our best to make it interesting to our viewers/readers at home. We started out the week working hard on our research projects and finished it off with a good SCUBA dive and introduction to Junkanoo.

We are now three weeks into our science research projects and each group is really starting to dive into their individual studies. The artificial reefs "freefs" are hard at work designing and constructing six reefs to be placed in the waters off the shore of the campus to be studied for the remainder of the semester. Another group has been making tracks in the mangroves while studying what lives there and why. The aquaculture group is busy at the marina catching more Yellow Tail Snapper and testing where they live best. The conch "fritters" have their fins on and are out searching for those big snails! Since all of these projects have it up and running the campus has been bustling with activity. Our fourth week of community service went well with no glitches, thanks to the power staying on.

Meg, Mike, and Khristovia share a smile after a long afternoon of studying mangroves during Wednesday's community service.

Susan and Katina enjoy making a poster together
after spending the afternoon studying marine pollution.

Friday brought fun activities and lots of sun. As a community or resourceful and conservation conscious individuals, we gained 1 centimeter of water in our cistern, which made us all jump for joy and flush the toilets. Friday morning, after a rigorous 4 mile run to High Rock and back, we split up into two activity groups. Some of us went SCUBA diving off the wall, with Tyler who spent the morning free diving (by the way, he can free dive down to 40 feet). They saw many neat things, like a big Bermuda Chub.

Jaime, Javier, and Ryan get their
artist juices flowing while constructing their Junkanoo headpiece.

Chloe and Tyler are two members of the artificial reef
research group. They are cementing and wiring the
reefs that will be launched by the end of the month.

 

The other half of our motley crew spent the morning learning about the Bahamian festival, Junkanoo. This festival began in Africa as a warning to children about slave traders. The festival consists of a huge parade and very elaborate costumes and dancing. Our spring semester 2000 is the first group to be invited to partake in this tradition in the local celebration in Rock Sound. This morning three Junkanoo experts who, might we add, have been designing costumes for 30 years, came to help us design our own Junkanoo costumes. The pictures of us wrapped in cardboard are just the beginning of what will eventually be our party outfits!

 

Glendaly, Sally, Abby, Louise, Ellie, Susan,
and Suzy pose for picture after an exciting dive to the wall and a beautiful morning on the boat.

An obviously excited George (far left) leads the Junkanoo preparations on Friday.

 

To top off our week, Friday also brought us a plethora of mail. Thanks to all of you who write us, it always makes us smile! Truthfully, we go crazy and jump up and down! This week also brought the half way mark in our semester here. It is sad to think that we are already half way done and it has made us all realize how special this experience is for us. We hope that you have enjoyed this little weekly run-down of life at the Island School. This is George's advisory signing off!