Zach and Iain work on solar panels for research

Last Tuesday, the students on academic rotation were fortunate to be granted a much needed sleep-in after the 7 mile run on Monday was completed.  Later that day, K1 and K2 had a dive at the cage where the students got to lead the dive for the first time.  For many, it was their first glimpse of the aquaculture site, and it was an exciting dive because we got to go down 90 feet!  We saw lots of tangs, snappers, and put into use all that we have learned during fish ID slides.

On Wednesday, we had a psycho in the morning – too windy for a run/swim! – while K3 had a sleep-in after returning from their kayak trip the night before, and later departed for their Down Island adventure.  Ben Freeman’s brother-in-law, a pollster for the Kerry campaign, gave a seminar concerning the past election.  It was interesting to get the story of the Kerry operation from an inside source as opposed to the media. That afternoon K1 and K2 had Community Outreach for the first time in 2 weeks.  It was great to see the kids again and we enjoyed continuing our projects to present to the community in the coming weeks at the Community Outreach Fair. That evening we enjoyed some delicious brownies for out hard work in academics and then continued in study hours until we became tuckered out!

Sam and Chandler try their hand at poker

We started our Thursday off with a game of water polo and then we had a long morning of research.  During research, we worked diligently on our research projects for the upcoming parents weekend and worked on completing the methods section for our final paper.  That night we had Junkanoo dancing which was a nice break from academics, and when it was over, we had our last study night for the academic rotation.

Noelle goes for a lay-up at the student/faculty game

Friday morning started out with a long 7 mile run for the runners and a 1-½ mile swim for the swim track. It was really tough! Only thirteen days until we do our final marathons of a 13-mile run and a 3-mile swim. That day we had three tests to end our academic rotation, which consisted of Humanities, Science, and Math. That evening, K4 returned from the kayak trip with many stories along with K3 from their Down Island Trip. Everyone rejoiced when we were all back together again. We had a small period of time to share a few stories of the few past weeks until the boys had a great poker game while the girls were on “lockdown” for the night for breaking the rules. However, the girls still had a great night despite having to spend it in the library. The guys on the other hand had a immensely wonderful night playing some cards. Sam Dawson wound up winning the game in which he won a fishing trip with Nathan, a snickers bar, an Island School Boathouse Jacket, and a bag of cookies. Not everyone was winner, last place had to do two hours of community service for the Island School. (Don’t worry – no money was exchanged hands during the game – just fun!)

On Saturday morning we had a great sleep in until breakfast. Saturday was a day off for everyone, which signaled the end of academic rotation and the end of kayak and down island trips. It was a nice day to relax, play a fun game of aqua football, and hang out together in the boy’s dorm. A few guys went off campus with Geoff to go feed the fish in the aquaculture cage and chill on the Cobia (the Island School boat). The evening was a typical Island School night with study hours, which were mainly focused on research projects with check in at 10:00 pm. The girls, however, had an awesome night of chocolate milk and brownies at their pajama party. At the party, Kate Gibson read “The Top 23 Reasons for Being in the Girls’ Dorm” – which she had written during her solo and many laughs were had.

Sunday morning we were all ready to go on a run to High Rock when Ben surprised us with the news of a sleep in morning. The rest of the day was devoted to research. A lot of work was to be done in preparation for the presentations to be given during parents weekend. Most of the research teams stayed on campus because of the high winds. They spent their time in the library madly typing away on their research papers. After spending all day inside students let off some steam in a heated basketball game against the faculty down by the Marina. Several students participated in the games while others cheered them on from the sidelines. The kitchen ladies, Mooch and Rebecca, also joined in on the fun by cheering us on. The faculty really brought it to the students in the first few games, but in the last game Noelle put up a prayer to win it for the students. The basketball game was a great way to end a long day.

Roger - serious about Junkanoo

Monday was the first day of the normal academic classes with our regular sections. Run track started off the day with a four-mile run while the swimmers swam to and around the triangle cut. It was nice to have gotten back into the regular Island School routine.

To finish up the week on Tuesday our morning exercise was either water polo or a Govia swim/run. We had classes as usual and two hours of research in the afternoon to finish up our results section of our papers as they were due that evening. At 4:15 all books were put to rest and the girls and boys dorms did a SUPER DEEP CLEAN to prepare for parents weekend. The Super Clean lasted all free time, but we were rewarded with brownies during study hours after watching a Blue Planet film instead of fish slides.

Now, we busily prepare for the influx of our parents and siblings - we can't wait to see you soon - the campus is buzzing with excitement.

On a more serious note, we'd like to give a special shout out to Chris and Sadelle who are busy recovering at home. You are both in our thoughts and we miss you tons. Get well soon!

Bart – Hey Mom, Dad, Brett, Rick, and Jake hope you guys are doing well. I’m having the time of my life down here. It’s been awesome! And to all those back at Falmouth High School, what’s up? I can’t wait to see you all when I get home, but in the mean time, keep the mail coming.

Laura – To Mom, Dad, Josh, Matt, Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of the family, I miss and love you lots, but I am having a great time (in the warm weather). To all of my friends in Watertown (MP, SF, SQ, MK, EA, BS, KO, SE and everyone else) I miss you and have so much to tell you. I can’t wait to see all of you and thanks for the letters.

Dustin- Hey everyone! Miss everyone a lot. Things are wonderful down here! Hey Mom, Dad, Jesse, The Crew, Nick, Andy and all of girls from Hopkins High School. Keep the letters coming! I wish I could live down here it’s so great. I’m ready to do some snowboarding and fishing when I get home so be ready for me. See you in a few!

Noelle- Hey mom and dad- I miss you guys lots and can’t wait to see you soon! Tell the fam I say hi. Hey Anna!! I hope everything at school is going well and I’ll see you when you come home in December! What’s up AB & Nobles?!  Meg, LT, Andrew, and Shudra, miss you guys! Shout out to the fab 5, I love you gals so much and can’t wait to see you when I get home!! Keep writing, and I’ll see you soon!