Everyone smile!!

On Thursday, kayak groups K3 and K4 embarked on their three-day trips.  K4 started at Rock Sound and traveled down to Island School while K3 started at the school and worked their way up the coast the Rock Sound.  The two groups saw each other on the second day, but didn’t get to meet up because one group was beached and the other traveling to their lunch spot.  During the trips, students learned how to put up tents, make fires, cook their own food, and many other outdoor living skills.  There were three lessons during the trip: one was an art session where students drew their surroundings, one was a mangrove education class, and the last was a navigation class where we learned about vectors.  There were many stories and events that happened during the trips, but one is by far the most memorable. On the last day, K3 made it to Rock Sound and while eating lunch and waiting for the van to come, two students found a packet of Kool-Aid on the beach and start eating it.  They put it on the sandwiches and even ate the powder right out of their hands, thinking their group leader had been holding out on them.  It was soon discovered that the Kool-Aid wasn’t actually food from the Island School, and the packet’s best use date was dated December, 1975! It was a hysterical event that will be remembered by everyone on that trip.  Overall, the kayak trips were a great experience and everyone had a great time.

Enjoying some down-time at the sandbar

On Saturday all students gathered for circle at 6:30 am and had a “Psycho” where we ran through the woods ending at the Marina, all the while stopping at landmarks such as the “House of Pain” for calisthenics, the wall for dips, the basketball court for suicides and the field for sit-ups. After the psycho we were all worn out and hardly had enough energy to do our chores. We refueled with breakfast and got ready for our dive at Tunnel Rock! We had all passed the certification test, so we were all excited for our first open water dive

Our first open water dive

We all rode bikes to the Marina and “kitted up,” then went on a 20 minute boat ride out to Tunnel Rock. Once there, we completed two sequential dives—one to explore the huge patch reef, one to practice skills similar to the ones that we learned earlier this week in our confined water dives (partial and full mask floods, regulator recovery, emergency descent, and buddy breathing). We went down as far as 35 feet swimming around the reef and saw many fish from our Natural History class—damselfish, angelfish, a trumpetfish and one group even saw a two-foot Barracuda!

After cleaning and returning our scuba equipment, we biked back to campus for free time. After dinner for a study break Kathy organized some mandatory fun (“Man-Fun!”) where we played a game called “I like my neighbors who….” followed by a surprise of chocolate chip cookies! After the much-appreciated study break, we returned to work. Some of us crashed early but all of us slept well after the very busy day.

All the students had Monday off so the elected weekend crew came up with a great idea… “dress to impress” Jeopardy! People came dressed in anything and everything they could manage to put on. The weekend crew worked long and hard to come up with questions and make an awesome game of jeopardy. There was plenty of motivation as the winners would get cookies and a trip to Deep Creek for ice cream, while the losers would do dishes later that night. Questions involved activities like SCUBA, kayaking, school facts, dorms, faculty students and a guy named Bingo (the money question being “why is he here?”, which no one could answer) After the intense game of jeopardy, many students went to lie down by the flagpole and star watch until check in. Songs were sung and stories were told, and everybody was back in their dorm by 11:30 ready for bed.

On Monday everybody got to sleep in as late as they wanted after the night of Jeopardy, but mostly everyone was up by 8:15 because of the yogurt debut—we all wanted to make sure that we got some before it ran out! It was a day of recuperation for the kayakers, who caught up with friends (and on sleep after breakfast), as well as for the sunburned scuba group. On free day most people tried to start working on their respective research projects and science assignments, but there was always time for a study break at the marina store…

Island Schoo Jeapordy Rocks

The next morning meant the first “regular” day (except no day at the Island School is regular) and the first morning exercise all together in over a week. We all ran to the cut and did a triangle swim and water aerobics, then returned home and had a very filling breakfast of eggs and toast. We all got through our first Omeros quizzes and started our Environmental Art projects, and then after an advisory lunch over tuna sandwiches we all went off to Deep Creek Primary to meet our Community Outreach buddies! They were all so enthusiastic and happy to have us there to play “getting-to-know-you” games. We returned and had free time, but most of us stayed on campus and started to work—except for those who took Isaac up on his offer of swimming lessons. (We were later rewarded with congratulatory stickers…pretty ponies and Pokemon.) After dinner we had our first Fish ID quizzes and then Andy led a fish dissection of a huge cobia, as well as some smaller fish that students found in the cut off of Girls’ Dorm Beach. With the research projects and homestay and kayak reflections on top of regular work, we all set to work after the Natural History Class ended. We are all settling back into the schedule, which continues for the next month or so with no interruptions (except for Midterms…). Tomorrow is Monique’s birthday!!

Shout-outs:

Molly: Mom, Dad, Tate, and family- I love and miss you all, looking forward to Parents’ Weekend! Hey to everyone in PA!! I miss you all a lot but I’m having lots of fun down here… hope you had a good spring break (without me… L), prepare for huge movie/TV marathons when I back (and Cake Day?! ps Jenny- I’m so ready for PB+J day, even though I eat it nonstop here too). Math class- thanks for the inspirational poster. Good luck with everything school and otherwise, write me lots and send me amazing pictures! Happy Easter/Passover (?), see you all sooner than you think!!!

Max: Mom Dad Mikayla Vavie and Ashley, I’m so bummed that I’m missing Jamaica with you, but I know you will all have a great time. I miss you guys and I love you guys. Zach and Sophaboph, I miss hanging out with you and driving around with you and eating bad bad sushi that you feed me. Kate I miss you so much and I can’t wait till I step off that airplane and get the biggest hug in the world from you! I LOVE your letters and can’t wait to here from you!  Keep hanging in there~   I miss you all and I love you all and I’m thinking about you guys!!! Keep sending mail

Camilla: Mama y Papa gracias por todo el appoyo y las cartas que me esciben. Te apprecio y te agradesco con todo mi corazon. Estoy viviend mi sueno! To all of my family, friends and great supporters: Thank you for making my dream come true, I couldn’t have done this without you. There is never a day where you are not in my heart and on my mind, you are my motivation. Every day I face new challenges and struggles but, when I look around I see nothing but everlasting Island beauty surrounding me. The surreal sky and translucent waters give me breath and life, I am so lucky to be here. I promise you all that I will come back stronger than I ever imagined. Keep writing me! Love, Camila

Travis: Hi everyone.  Mom, Dad, Renee, Eric and Nora: I miss you and I hope everything is going well at home.  I miss everyone at East Grand Rapids High School.  Spencer:  Although you aren’t living in my house at the moment, we are still roommates.  The Spencer Quotes are still safe.  Wes: I hoe your mission is going well.  Easter is almost here so lent will be over soon.  Loy.    Jill and Solja: You to say Meh too much, heps, and I like your card.  Scott:  I miss your basement.  Michael:  The fro will be there when I get back.  I miss Red vs. Blue.  Eric D.: I hope you aren’t in too much trounble for the crash.  Josh:  I’ll see you in a few weeks.   I miss everyone and send mail.