A line drive to first base

AHH! it is already week nine at Island School!! We can’t believe how fast time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday that we were choosing our bunks and meeting each other. This week was the week that half of us left for kayak trips and a down island trip. The kayak trip is 8 days long and each student spent 2 nights on a solo! Although there was some apprehension going into the trip, K1 left us for their kayak trip as well as K2 leaving for down island on Monday morning. Within the first four hours of K1 being gone, we were radioed that the seas were rough and that the tough Leah got seasick! But, being the tough chick she is, she kept on trucking. We all gathered for a group hug around the flagpole to bid them goodbye and then the rest of us went on to morning exercise. That day, to avert the sadness we were all feeling for only having half of us here on campus, we drove into Deep Creek for the day. We got there around ten in the morning and some of us walked straight to V&H’s for cookies and cream ice cream and sodas. Back at the primary school field, we played kickball, lacrosse and games with local kids who were excited to see us! Many of them were our buddies who we were teaching to read. Sharona even showed up to hang on Jackie! When we got back to school, the boys and girls broke up. Half of us did our first work on our junkanoo costumes while the other half did team building/dorm bonding.

A beautiful sky thanks to Hurricane Wilma

Amidst all of the weather that Hurricane Wilma had been sending our way, we jumped right into 8 days of intense academics. The weather had gotten much cooler so most of us wore sweatshirts all day long! We were introduced to new classes, statistics and Junkanoo. Stats was an interesting new class, no matter witch math level you were in we all took it together, yet like any other week of math class we had a project. So for several days many of us were running around campus asking all sorts of question so we could practice our new stats knowledge with the data. Junkanoo was a fun class, quite a bit less stressful then the other classes. After a few miss haps and a bit of confusion, we got a great start on our costumes. Junkanoo was a great break from all the other classes, which dragged on For-ev-er! Most of our classes were in two-hour blocks. Except for research, which was three hours long. Many of us had a hard time staying focused and awake. Most of the groups used this time to get some good fieldwork done and we all worked hard on our Methods section of our paper. While the Patch Reef research team was our surveying one of their reefs, Jac and Jessie had quite a scare when an 8 ft (Jessie claims was 14 ft) nurse Shark chilled on the reef they were surveying. They both booked it back to the boat, where they told their tale to the rest of the group.

An early morning "jaunt"

As the school work got harder so did the morning exercises. On Wednesday morning the runners did the 8 mile run. Wow that was hard! The swimmers did a 2 mile swim… Maggie and Luke lead the way to 4 th hole and avoided any more encounters with sharks or other ocean life for that matter. After that we all were rightfully exhausted. The next morning was our sleep in day. It was much needed. Friday, Kathy led all our sore muscles in a great class of yoga. It got us all stretched out so that on Saturday we could time our selves, the swimmers on their triangle cut; and the runners on the 4 mile loop. Every one pushed themselves and finished strong!

Even with all the homework the teachers kept piling on we took time out of our buses study hours and went on our Night Dives! And boy were they exciting! We saw tons of cool stuff down underwater. With only our dive lights to guide us around underwater, we saw creatures like lobsters, remora eels and phosphorescent organisms! It was still chilly out so many of us wore our wetsuits.

Deep Creek Middle School came to our campus for the day for a great time. We held the annual field day.   With about forty middle schoolers on campus (driven by none other than Friendly Bob on the big yellow school bus) we were all having a great time. Maggie played “camp counselor” for the day and psyched all the kids up for a fun time with stations such as face painting with Chris DR, Caroline, and Eleanor. There was also a 50 yard dash, tag, Halloween arts and crafts, an obstacle course and a water balloon toss. The day ended with yummy cupcakes and we said goodbye to the middle schoolers. We all prepped for Halloween which we eagerly awaited.

HALLOWEEN 2005, Island School Style: On October 31 st the Island School hosted the Deep Creek Middle School for a Halloween Scare Fest.   The students, with the help of Jenn “The General” Olchowy transformed the campus into the ultimate haunted territory loaded with everything from the grim reaper, played by Nate “The Ogre”to a crazed chainsaw psycho.   The middle school students were taken through “the forest of death” where numerous faculty members hid in and behind the shrubbery and buildings, scaring the life out of each child that dared to enter.   Jesse and Justin hid on the side of the road, disguised in black clothing to scare the kids once more, herding them to the boys’ dorm, a.k.a. “The House of Pain”.   The students were then blind folded and led through the “goblin and rabid dog” infested halls, jumping out of their pants with every sudden bite and scratch.   From there, they were led to the back deck of the dorm, which was transformed, into a mad scientist’s laboratory, outfitted with large vats filled with brains, guts, and eye balls commonly known as spaghetti, jell-o, and hard boiled eggs.   After they went through the “touchy torture”, they were led through the north dorm, loaded with “werewolves and witches”.   When the tour was over, the kids were taken into the common room of the boys’ dorm, where Danny “the teller of terror tales” W. told an old Eleutheran myth about haunted casuarinas cursed by former slaves, which the Island School’s campus was built from.   Danny ended the story with “If you hear a scream, pray for your life, because one of you won’t be leaving here tonight.”   Following the end of the story, Maggie “the screecher creature” R. let out a bone-chilling scream that made everyone in the room jump out of their seats.   After cleanup, we were led to believe that the student body was in trouble for something unknown.   After gathering outside the dining hall, we were all “tricked and then treated” with oreo-crusted pudding and sparkling apple cider.   We rounded out our night with a viewing of The Exorcist , complete with Halloween candy and a few good screams.   That ended the 2005 Island School Fright Fest.

Nathan "The Ogre" W. welcomes you into "The House of Pain"

Maggie - Hey everyone back home! Hope all is well. I’m having a spectacular time down here on Eleuthera. All of my homesickness has evaporated! Some shoutouts- Mom, Dad and Katie; I cant wait to see you in 2 weeks! You’re going to love it here, I know it! Katie, get ready to sleep in my dorm with me :) Mel and Lindsay- Not too long until I come home to you girls. Keep writing, I miss you like crazy. Have fun at homecoming. Mel- take care of Karina and Hayley this year for me! Nora- what can I say, you’re amazing. I love your letters so much. Can’t wait to see you. Henry- <3 we’re almost there! Casey- DEH! Sue- Wanna chewy bar? Alex- try to get my letters! Miss you! Mima & PopPop- Have fun at my house w/ Kate. Cant wait to see you! For everyone else, I miss you all so much and I can’t wait to come home to you all!

Jaclyn- Hey everybody!!! I miss you all so much….but things down there are great! Hey Girls, wow I miss you all and I’m mad at you all for not writing more GRRRR!! So I better be getting some more soon or you will feel my wrath when I get home…. I hope Homecoming went well, sounds like the usual drama, but I am sure you all looked beautiful, so make sure to send me some cute pics! Ken- out talk made my day/life… do not worries you’ll always be my one and only KEN! Hey to every one at school too. Nikki you are going to love it down here!!! Mom, dad, Nanas, Papas, and cousins… its great getting news from you all, I love you all and it great to hear the every one is doing good and nana and dad are getting better fast. Keep it up! Tieg, bro its not the same with out you around, but every time I weir your shorts I’m reminded of you! I’m sorry that I haven’t written more oops… its hard to find time. Corey, baby I miss seeing your smiling face every day L its hard with out you here with me…. But not too much longer till December . I LOVE EVREYONE back home! Keep writing please! LOTS OF LOVE KISSES & HUGS!! <3

Justin - Hey Mom, Dad, Sam, Aly, and Jaime.   How was Halloween back at the Jersey Shore?   Jaime, did you get a lot of candy?   Aly, I hear your doing great in tennis…that is so awesome, I’m so proud of you!   Sam, your at college, I know your having fun.   Mom and Dad, I am still doing very well and having a great time down here.   Parent’s weekend is right around the corner!   I leave for my 8-day kayak trip tomorrow; hopefully the weather won’t be as bad as the 3-day.   I can’t believe the time is flying by so quickly.   I need to go pack for my adventure, so I am going to say good-bye, and I love you all!   Say hi to everyone and give them all my love.   One more thing…if you could bring down an extension cord, some sweat pants, and an extra bag to bring some of my things home with you, that would be great!   See you in a few weeks. Patras - Keep looking after Peddie for me.   Give everyone my best.   You better keep the cup!   Remember, Blair is good at wrestling and nothing else.   I’ll see you in December.   Kielbasa … you know what I mean.   Peace.