Rano and Sarah before kayak

Kayak 1 returned Monday night and was reunited with Academic 1, who had just finished their eight-day academic rotation. Tuesday, April 27 th marked our 9 th week at the Island School and served as our “Sunday” for the week. Everyone enjoyed hanging out on the beach, watching movies, and sharing stories from the last eight days. Tuesday night was spent packing and once again saying goodbye as Kayak 1 and Kayak 4 prepared to leave on their Down Island Trip and Kayak 3 prepared for their 8-day kayak trip.

Wednesday morning left campus deserted after all the students departed on respective trips. Kayak 1 was the only group to exercise and we ran to high rock, jumped off and ran back in our small group. On our Down Island Trip we climbed a banyan tree and did a scavenger hunt around Governor’s Harbour. Tuesday night we enjoyed having dinner at a restaurant and eating ice cream before camping on the beach.

On Thursday Kayak 1 continued on their adventure down island after a competitive game of Ultimate Frisbee. We visited an abandoned U.S. navy base, explored a cave and admired the view at Glass Window Bridge. We also enjoyed shopping in Gregory Town and ate lunch on a cliff with a beautiful view. Thursday night, Kayak 2 returned to a lonely campus but had fun watching movies and sleeping in their own beds.

Hillary, Jacq, Elizabeth and Tracy

On Friday, Kayaks 1, 2, and 4 were reunited. Kayak 2 enjoyed a free day with coffee cake for breakfast. Kayak 4 got ready for their kayak trip while kayak 1 and 2 prepared to start a tough week of academics.

Saturday marked the first day of classes for academic 2. In the morning 7 students traveled to Rock Sound to take their SATs and even got to eat lunch out. The remaining students ran to high rock and then worked hard on a garbage pick up in the mangroves. Some students helped Rooster on the farm. After lunch we worked hard decorating our Junkanoo costumes. In science class we discussed fisheries as a case study, putting all of our knowledge from earlier in the semester to work.

Because of the crazy 8-day academic schedule, our Sunday this week was transformed into a Tuesday, so we woke up early and had circle at 6:30. Sunday morning began with a tough morning exercise. After not running for the whole Kayak and Down Island trips, 5 ½ miles seemed a lot tougher than it had a few weeks before. The swim team (with only two original members and 3 recruits on campus) did a tough endurance workout in the cut led by Christian. We had an exciting science class after breakfast where we used M&Ms to discuss fishery management techniques. In the afternoon we had a results workshop followed by two hours of research. After dinner we had organism slides, led by Sacha. Study hours were spent preparing for our Humanities presentations the next day.

After a sleep-in on Monday, we headed down to the Marina to do our first deep dive. We were all extremely excited to see the cage and a few sharks. After the dive we headed back to campus for a late breakfast, followed by decorating our Junkanoo costumes. Lunch came very quickly, only an hour after breakfast dishes had been finished, but we all enjoyed having lunch with our advisors. In the afternoon we worked on math projects and gave our Omeros presentations. Monday night was spent preparing for our science quiz on fisheries and for Community Outreach Field Day!

This web update was written by Courtney, Timm, Ben, and Charley. Below are messages from them to their friends and family at home.

Courtney- Hey Mommy, Bubba, and Emmy: I love you and can’t wait until Parent’s weekend to see you! Dar, Des, Mer, Kris and all the Hoval guys: Hope you guys are having an amazing spring! I can’t wait until this summer! See you in 1 month! Love you and miss you! Matt: I hope things are getting better. Sounds like baseball is going great. I miss our conversations when I need someone to talk to. Summer is going to be fun and you owe me lunch! Kirby and Stanley girls: I miss you guys! Erika: It was great talking to you, cow. Miss you and love you so much!

Ben - Hey Pennington… Whaaaat’s happenin? Hello mother, father, and brother, Love you all and I can’t wait to see all of you (except brother) on parents weekend. Sheidler, Bershad, Drake, Laughlin, Knights, Belli, Kuppe, Ricardo Linguini and anyone that I forgot… remember not to be all chucklehouse, tee hee. You gotta keep it Van Damme. I’m having the time of my life here in Eleuthera and I can’t wait to see all of you soon. GO SHARKS!!!! (Courtney says hi if you didn’t notice)

Courtney, Ben, Timm and Charley

Timm- Hey everyone back home you would never believe how much I miss you all. Jason, keep it real and throw it down fo sho. You know you my brother and nothing will ever change that. I miss you and love you in the straightest way possible. Caroline (Lance is hot), only a few more weeks until we can watch the sun fall and rise together on the beach like we’ve always planned, or should have planned and now since I’ve said it its our plan…I miss our conversations like no other kid, I miss you. Bridget, keep battling, you are the strongest person I know and soon enough we’ll be able to stomp out all those feuds together. And of coarse Katie, no words will ever justify my feeling for you, you are my better half and I count the days. The best part of my day is thinking of you. Be sure to tell everyone else I’ve missed that I love then and miss them. Go SB I love you all…KEEP ON TRUCKIN’!!!

Charley- Hey, Mom, Dad, Friends, I miss you guys and the Island so much. I’m having the time of my life down here. I can’t wait to show pictures this summer. I hope everyone at Portland is having a great second semester. So excited for summer its going to be the best, only one more month. Go Bulldogs Lax!

Katie, Hayley, Timm, Courtney and Adwoa	Maggie, Courtney, Matt and Hilary