Charlotte is holding down the pig pen on her own

Friday started out as a bit of a sad day for some at the Island School because in preparation for our Sunday pig roast, we killed and cleaned the male pig, Cletus, at around 6:00am. Even though it was sad, it was a great chance to learn about where our food comes from and everyone that helped got a “Country Strength” merit badge. After pig cleaning happened everyone went out to a “team-building” exercise and we were split into teams by our academic groups. Also, on Friday, the workers at the institute began to ‘raise the walls’ of the hatchery. It was great to have all their hard work develop into something that we could see!  Other than these few but exciting events, the Island School had a normal day.

Saturday was a pretty normal day for the Island School as well. Everyone woke up at 6:30am and either ran 6 miles or swam a mile. Travis and Chris discovered a game from Sweden and shared it with everyone for some interesting fun. This game consisted of the players trying to knock over the wooden blocks by throwing wooden poles at them a certain way. It might not sound too exciting, but hey, we don’t have TV so we have to entertain ourselves! Some students also chose to celebrate Passover and have a dinner at Meredith and Kathy's house. It was a great chance for students to teach each other about religious holidays. Saturday night was spent entertaining each other with our talents at coffee house.

Anna helping prepare for the Passover celebration

Sunday was a normal day off with the exception of various trip meetings and preparations for K1 and K2. We had a nice sleep in, went to the beach, and generally just hung out. In the afternoon hair braiding started for girls leaving on kayak/down island trips! It was a very painful process and those of us on K3 and K4 laughed at them… until we realized that we are getting it done next week too. Hmm. Then we had an optional blue planet movie in the evening.

Scott - always the entertainer

Monday morning we woke up and had to say goodbye to our K1-ers who were leaving on their 8-day kayak trip. Some of us won’t be seeing each other for three weeks so it was a little emotional. While K2 went for a jog to high rock, the rest of us went for a free dive out at Cathedral, only one of our three dives of the day. When we returned from the free dive, we said goodbye to K2, leaving on their down island trip, and got ready to hit the beach. For a treat we were taken to a really nice beach in Green Castle where we got to lay out all day, have water fights and play football. Towards the end of our beach trip we walked down the road and swam to a blue hole for our second free dive. Back on campus we prepped for our night SCUBA before dinner. At about 7:30 pm we were out on the boat and headed to Tunnel Rock. The night dive was a TON of fun but a little stressful for some because it was so hard to see. We made it back just before lights out and went to sleep ready for the start of our 8-day academic rotation.

On Tuesday we woke up and had run and swim tracks for morning exercise. The run track had a timed run around the loop (which we had done a couple weeks ago) to show us how much we had improved. Meanwhile the swimmers swam the triangle cut two times also timed to compare their times from before. Then we had classes to start out our academic rotation. This consisted of statistics, art, and research in the afternoon. The rest of the day was pretty standard with community meeting and study hours after dinner.

Wed- Some people woke up at 5:30 to go on an optional free dive out at Tunnel Rock.  K1 and K2 went scuba diving out at Cathedral and got to swim through the tunnel.  K3 and K4 did work projects.  After lunch we had community outreach.  During free time the kayak groups for our eight-day trips were posted!  Everyone is getting excited about the upcoming trips.

K1 posing before 8 days out on the water!

Thur- We all got up at 6:30 for a run/swim or as we like to call them a Swycho.  After a great breakfast of french toast we headed off to classes for the morning.  After lunch we had another busy afternoon of classes.  This was just another normal day of classes.  People are starting to realize how close the kayak trips are and how much fun they will be.

SHOUT OUTS:

Lucas- Mom and Dad thanks for encouraging me to come here because this place is awesome. Thanks to everyone who writes to me: Mom, Dad, Nana, Lake, Stephanie and Dana. I miss everyone and I’ll see ya’ll real soon (June 8).

Monique – Heeeey all my Mainers! Mom dad and Chloe I love you and miss you tons… I’ll see you in a few weeks. I hope your life still isn’t the same without me. Julia, Matthew, Al, Pagie, and Abby I miss you guys tons but don’t have too much fun in Fport without me. Keep up the JVing and fajitaness. Tell my enny that I can’t wait to see her when she gets back. Give everyone a huge hug for me… this place is amazing and I’m not coming home, but when I do we’ll have an awesome summer together!

Kendra – Mom, Dad, Tucker, Jeff, Andy and Piper I love you and miss you guys so much, I can’t wait to see you on parents weekend. This is SUCH an awesome place!!  Katie, Bean, Lindz, Kris, Mason, Sam, Marie and Michael keep up the letters I love hearing from you guys, same goes for everyone else at WHS, I miss you all so much. Club ’05 can’t wait for this summer! I’ll see you all soon!!

Miles- Mom, Dad, Leti, Erin, Van-PVM and Reg I miss you all and thank you very much for the letters.  I am having a great time down here.  I cant wait to show you what I have been doing down here for the past month and a half.  I will be back for graduation, see everyone then. I miss everyone so much and can’t wait to see you when I get home!