A Tuesday morning exercise team

Tuesday morning started with a slight twist! Instead of traditional morning exercise we broke in to teams! Everyone was divided up and we went through multiple stations that included running, pushing a van, swimming, dunking a basketball, and many other fun activities. We worked really hard as we always do, but it was such a nice change in exercise! Later that day we took our first science field quiz. We swam out a short way in the cut to survey a specific area and upon our return to shore took a quiz testing our reasoning ability as well as pure information retention. Later that night we took our second fish identification slide quiz and were given our new set to learn for the following week.

While we all enjoy our “sleep in” until 7:30am on Wednesday mornings, some of us felt extra motivated and woke up at 5:30am to go free diving at Cathedral Rock! It was the most amazing experience. As the lazy members (Carson!) rolled out of bed at 7:30am, the free divers arrived back on campus just in time to start chores and get prepped for the exciting day ahead – Conch Day! In place of our normal scuba/work project and community outreach schedule, we spent the entire day doing activities centered on conch. For those of us on conch research some of it was review, but we all learned something new and had a great time! We made jewelry out of conch shells in art, we went conch fishing for our dinner (conch fritters and cracked conch – AMAZING!), we had an entire 101 class on the life of conch, and we got to dissect one! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day, and got a big laugh watching Maria eat the “worm” (part of the conch)!

Jonny and JD - 5:30am freedive

Thursday we gathered to present our research projects to the community. We were really nervous, especially because this was the first time we were going to stand up in front of the entire community and speak about all of our hard work. We survived the jitters of public speaking and our updates were really thorough! It was good practice for the presentations we will make for our parents in a month and then for the scientists, officials, and others who come down to hear us in June. Happy Birthday Jensen! We celebrated Jensen’s 16 th birthday with delicious cake, and of course, for Jensen and Kaila some delicious kosher Passover candy, thanks to Jensen’s mom. We also had Junkanoo practice, which proved to us we really needed to work on our dance moves before parents weekend!

Friday started out with half the group doing a run/swim while the other half did work projects, helping to beautify our campus. It was followed by a normal schedule of chores, meals, and classes. Later that night during study hours we all worked extremely hard on our research paper introductions.

Saturday started out with a run to the marina with strength training, ab work, and a huge group Indian sprint thrown in and then a great game of ultimate ball. We spent all morning perfecting our introductions in research and by twelve o’clock everything was handed in. That afternoon some of us went diving while others did work projects such as repainting the middle school. A few of us helped set up The Island School booth at the Rock Sound Homecoming. The rest of the students came to Rock Sound at 4:30pm to partake in the evening’s festivities. We spent the night eating insane amounts of food and dancing!

Andrew and Sarah dissect a conch

Sunday, for many of us, started off with church for Easter. We were visited by the Easter bunny in the afternoon and had an underwater “egg” hunt. In exchange for our findings we were rewarded with a bag of candy – we wish it were Easter every day! We also spent our time working on our first major art project that was due the next day. That night we had our very first coffee house. We heard the story of Passover, were serenaded by Rosser’s guitar, got a wacky performance from Timm and Zack, and watched a beautiful and touching video Trip had made for us, documenting our semester thus far.

Monday was a normal day of training for the long swim/long run, then chores, and classes. We spent the night furiously studying for our two hour science mid-term that was scheduled for the next morning!

Tuesday morning started out with our running/swimming mid-semester assessment. We all improved our times immensely from 7 weeks ago. This time, not only did we know what to expect, but we also were in MUCH better shape! We all successfully completed our science mid-term and we’re all feeling much more relaxed! Congratulations to Jensen and Kaila for keeping Passover, unfortunately there was no bread with dinner tonight to celebrate! We had our third fish identification slide quiz and spent the night perfecting our mid-term Omeros papers as the final draft was due the next day. We’re eagerly anticipating our kayak trips and can’t wait to find out our groups tomorrow!

This web update was written by Julia, J.D., Chris C. and Tracy.  Below are messages from them to their friends and family at home.

Julia: Hey Mummy, Dad, Richie, Abby, & Cleo! Hello to my Freeport friends Erin, Monique, Elizabeth, Morgan, Lauren, & all my other girlies. I love & miss all of you. Hey Ross I miss you too. Write me please, & I’ll talk to you all soon. P.S. I’m having the time of my life!

The Conch Research group presents

J.D.: What up, Chillen, Hey to my family and be strong, shout out to all the L-ville kids, Doug, Nick 2 , Evan, Alex, Nils, and everyone else. I hope everything is stellar, I’ve been good here. And all my friends at home, Chris and Timmy & I miss you Ali. Write letters. Peace!

Chris C.: What’s up Kentucky. I’m having an unforgettable learning experience down here that I recommend for everyone. I can’t wait for my 8-day kayak trip & down island trip in the next few weeks b/c midterms are stressin’. I’m going free-diving at 5:30am tomorrow morning. What? I’ll see everyone in June. Write me a bunch of letters. Peace out, E-Town. Y-Yeah. – Chris Carson (A.K.A. Ferrari F-50)

Tracy: To my family- I absolutely love it here, it’s amazing! Mom & Dad - I can’t wait to see you on Parents Weekend, I love & miss you! Hey Andrew, hope Italy is fun, take lots of pictures! I’m working on the tan & getting in shape! To all the Riverdale kids this place is incredible, I miss &love you all, can’t wait to see you on June 8 th !

Hilary Keefe bites into a conch	Hayley, Candice and Anna in Rock Sound