Week Five

We’re now approaching our halfway point on the five week academic sprint for The Island School, Fall 2007. This week we’ve completed our lifeguard training, earning valuable skills we hope to never have to use, but we’re glad we have them just in case. We’re also now very close to completing our training to become certified scuba divers, with only one more dive to go, as we’ve completed yet another beautiful Tunnel Rock dive.

Alexio, Emily, Megan W. and Meagan G. hanging out on the dining hall deck

For academics, students are in the middle of a gnarly environmental art project, focusing on symbiosis—many exciting pictures should follow in next week’s update. Similarly, we’ve already completed our arduous research mid-term oral assessment, which actually wasn’t as terrible as we expected. We’ve also continued our respective legacy projects, which we finally got to enjoy because it wasn’t raining! It’s truly strange to think that only a little more than two weeks remain, as we’ve already done so much in such a small amount of time. Today we had our first science test, which was pretty challenging and will be finished tomorrow. This weekend is our 24 hour home stay and everyone is excited to see their families again!

Jack having fun while scuba diving

Even with all this work on our plates we still have time to have some good times. Saturday night’s activity proved to be a great test of strategy, as well as sheer physical ability, as north and south dorms faced off in a massive game of capture the flag. Following, we dined on the finest apple crisp in all of Eleuthera, while we all socialized in the dining hall. Even better, the night continued with a calm bonfire session, more socializing, and a relaxing massage-circle.

Kelly, Hannah, Meredith, and Nina waiting for some apple crisp after capture the flag

Shoutouts

Meredith: Hi SG and home! I miss everyone like crazy and can’t wait to see everyone in December. I’m training for the swim and it’s actually going really well! Mom and Dad, I miss you a lot and hope Denver hasn’t been too boring. Sorry I haven’t been writing that much (no news is good news)! Anna, I hope the room is good and that Zane has some new kids so it isn’t too bad. Also, I hope your ACL heals soon! Can’t wait to live with you, it will be insane! Tutti and Meg, I miss you girls immensely and I hope prefectship is not too hard. Gmo girls, we best be seeing each other soon…boys, I hope you’re staying out of trouble! Miss you all. Annie, I dream of Paris everyday! Auch girls, I hope the quad is all it’s cracked up to be. Can’t wait to be back on the hilltop, in the snow!  John, you haven’t written yet, so I’m assuming it’s because you are busy with your studies…Will, big senior, take advantage of it and good luck with colleges.

Campbell:  Big shout out to everyone back in New Jersey. To my family, I hope all is going well in Princeton and all the other respective areas with your personal goals. It won’t be long until I see you in early December. To Mike, I hope the new school year at HVCHS is going well with another exciting batch of classes, and I hope your new computer is as amazing as expected.  To Sage, enjoy the house football league, I’ll see you in the winter where hopefully you’re doing the Peddie indoor lacrosse league. Tell Jamp to keep the shenanigans to a maximum, and prepare to do the ice-cream challenge again. Lastly, to all, I can’t describe all the different experiences down here from the people to the weather. Though I don’t think I’m homesick, I do miss you all, and hope to catch up on things come December.

Megan W.:  Hey everyone back in Easton!! It’s beautiful here, the people are amazing, and the work is really hard, but I love it.  Mom and Dad, I went scuba diving today! Thank you guys so much for sending me here. I think that I’m getting a lot out of it and I know that I will improve as a person.  Haley, I miss you so much you have no idea, please keep writing and I’ll call you ASAP.  Hanna K., I.S. is everything that you said it would be thank you so much for telling me about this place.  Chris, Paul, Betsy, Meredith, Missy, and everyone else, I miss you guys so much and I can’t wait to see you in December.  I have so much to tell all of you--I can’t wait to see you, I hope everyone is doing amazing. I love you all times 10000000!!!  See you soon!!