Students and faculty at their first dinner

On Tuesday September 7th the Fall 2004 Island School students arrived. Despite delays and lost luggage, everyone finally landed. We gathered around the flagpole for our first dinner circle by nightfall where Ben Freeman (Head of School) read us an excerpt from Barry Lopez’s Rediscovery of North America.  A tasty treat of BBQ ribs was then served and quickly devoured.

Raising a solar panel during hurricane clean-up

We woke up at sunrise on Wednesday morning and had a running tour of the campus and snorkeled around “the wreck,” off of the boys’ dorm beach.  Mid-morning, some of us helped in a hurricane cleanup, which included setting up the solar panels (148 in total).  During the rest of the day, we got to know our fellow classmates as well as the campus. We also received our first homework assignment from the Humanities department, visited the school store and had our math interviews.

Ally weaving palms for the roof

Thursday started out with a physical assessment, which was a swim followed by a 2 mile run to the marina – we all finished and will use our times as a jumping-off point upon which to improve.  After a hearty breakfast, Chris Maxey (School Director) taught us a class on the dining hall deck about where we are in the world.  He gave us a unique perspective on Cape Eleuthera and told us about where we will be living and learning for the next three months.   Later that day, we continued to restore the campus from the hurricane by re-thatching the bike shed roof, putting a netting around the perma-culture area, bringing down the “wind geny” (wind generator), cleaning boats at the marina and stacking kayaks. Whew.

Friday, we experienced our first psycho for morning workout (an exercise that combines running and calisthenics) – led enthusiastically by Christian and Andrew.  We were all introduced to the “House of Pain,” where we are sure to be spending plenty of mornings doing crunches.  Then the group split up: half participated in a seminar on an essay by Barry Lopez and the other half worked on their medical training. That night, we had another class introducing our journals– we all got an assignment to find our “querencia,” a place where we can truly be ourselves and contemplate our experience here.

Saturday morning, we rose at 6:15 am and got our snorkeling gear ready to explore a sand bar about half a mile off shore. After doing some initial stretches and warm ups we learned about the special type of sand that composed the sand bar we were on called ooids.  It’s formed by layers of calcium carbonate building up around small phytoplankton and is a very rare type of sand.  After snorkeling around, we headed back to school for morning chores and breakfast.  Later, some of us participated in a geology class about The Bahamas while the others finished up their medical training.  Then the groups switched.  After class, we found out who was in our kayak groups and those who where scheduled to leave Sunday morning started packing.  After struggling to fit our gear into the really small waterproof bags we began to sense that the trip would be challenging.  After dinner the kayakers met with their groups again and everyone else saw a slide show about everything that goes on at the Island School.

Kayak 2 gets packed up and ready to leave

Sunday morning, the kayakers packed up for the trip and everyone else went out and played a heated game of water polo.  Then the group who stayed on campus started their SCUBA certifications.  Meanwhile the kayakers endured a really challenging and windy first day.  They finally landed at a beach near Lobster Point on the west side of Eleuthera where they prepared for their one night stay.

The next day, everyone back at school had a sleep-in until 7:30 (how luxurious!) – a nice change of place from the rigorous morning exercises.  The kayakers headed out for another long day on the water, reaching all the way past Poison Point into Rock Sound.  Students back at school continued their SCUBA certification classes and got to do some skills 10 feet under the water.  Later that night, it was Taylor’s birthday and those who were on campus enjoyed a delicious cake during study hours.

Kayak 1 showing off their spray skirts

Tuesday morning, kayakers woke up and mentally and physically prepared for their 22 km trek back to school – luckily, the wind was at our backs this time.  Students back at school went for a run/swim to start their day.  Both kayak groups arrived home after lunch and were excited to be back at school after their fun and exhausting trip.  It was nice to have everyone reunited, and the kayakers were especially happy to sleep in their beds again.  The SCUBA group took their written certification test and then started packing for their own kayak trips that would leave the next day.  At night, a brief watermelon-eating contest ensued, but Kayak 1&2 were so beat from their trips, most of them were in bed by 10pm.

Katie: Hey Mom, Dad, Macy, and Emily! I’m having a great time here, but I can’t wait to hear from all of you. Shout out to my girls at HB. See you in December!

Emery: Hello, Mom, Dad, Pat and Dar. CAMI I MISS YOU SO MUCH. Shout outs to momma mose, TEN/TS, DS, witties, keith and the rest of PHIGH! IM GETTING SOME SUN FOR EVERY ONE BE HOME SOON! You my boy blue, you my boy

Chandler: Hey Mom and Dad and Will. Having a great time. Love you all and I’ll see you soon.

Kirsten: Hello everyone! I'm having an awesome time but I miss you all so much! Shoutouts to: Mom and Dad, Jamie (don't have too much fun @ college), all of my Tafties, Katia, Daph, Mer, Soph, Sigel, and any other Aloha ladies. I LOVE YOU ALL! Send me mail! XOXO