Molly, Brookie, Courtney, Kelsey and Sarah at church on Easter

Hello from The Island School! It’s been an intense week of tests and other assignments. Although our group is a little smaller now thanks to kayak and Down Island trips, we started the week in full swing. Wednesday was a very busy day. We began with a dive to get SCUBA certification. For the dive, our 4th open water event, our dive instructors took us to a reef named Cathedral. We saw tons of cool fish on the dive, but the best part was a huge, five-foot long loggerhead turtle that swam right up to us, passing about six inches from the nearest divers! Our instructor Morgan, who actually touched the turtle’s shell estimated that it was over 100 years old!

Ryan, Taylor and Eric B. hang out after church with a friend

Wednesday morning’s fun ended, and our avalanche of midterm tests started in the afternoon with a science-reasoning test. We all worked really hard studying for the test. A History test was on Thursday morning about colonization of The Bahamas. Math projects were due Friday and we took Math midterms.

Lycia putting in

Saturday was relaxed. After three hours of research, we enjoyed some free time after lunch. The beat of Bahamian music soon filled the air, however, as it was time for Junkanoo practice with Dennis and Tiffany, two of our Bahamian staff members who were trying to teach us rhythm! We danced to cowbells, horns, and drums that make up the sounds of Junkanoo. After dancing, Dennis and Tiffany helped us make authentic Junkanoo headpieces and other accessories that we will break out on Parents Weekend.

Jen gets ready to launch

After Junkanoo, we either met in kayak groups, relaxed or made up missing work before traveling to Rock Sound for the local Homecoming celebration. Bahamian homecomings are different than those in the United States. Here, it’s the one weekend of the year where everyone who has moved away from Eleuthera comes home to see old friends and family and eat, dance and generally have a good time. It was cool because we got to interact with the community, wear something other than our Island School uniforms, and eat A LOT. There was pizza, candy, ice cream, conch fritters, virgin daiquiris, and tons of other yummy stuff. Adam Hensley (a former student from Spring ’02) met us there and is visiting for the week. After we got back to campus, we had a talent show and watched scary movies before heading to bed. It was a really fun night.

Sally and her friend from Deep Creek

Sunday was a day of work and relaxation. Kayak 1 and Down Island 1 made preparations to leave campus early Monday morning and frantically packed food and other gear. We enjoyed our last night together before the kayaks and vans departed Monday morning, leaving us with only 23 students on campus. Although it is nice to be a smaller group, we miss everyone.

Keenan- Hey y’all! Everyone at PICC, I miss you all so keep writing! Mom, Dad, Buddy, Dorothy, Ashley M&W, Callie, Tanner, Jamie, Dustin, Lawly, MM&PP!!!

Molly-Hey Mom, Dad, Georgia, Katherine, Fowler, Lizzie, Addie, Sara, Shaden, Julie, Mags, Jackie, Hannah S., Callie, Hannah G., Allsdog, Seth, Stuckey, Gordon, Chevy, Zimmerman, Nooods, Bay, Kirby, Stine, Kelly, Emily, Lex, Cons, Sarah M., Kirk, Forster, Stuper, Marshall.

Jamie & Preston wrote this too and say hi to our friends and family! : )