"Academic" Weeks

Hey everyone!

I'm writing this on Sunday, April 14th which signifies the last weekend of academic weeks 1-5! It feels pretty strange right now to think that a whole semester's worth of school is still fit into only eight or so weeks. This being said, we still have 2-3 weeks of academics after we get back from our 9-day kayak/sail expeditions. These academic weeks consist of our final projects presentations, research class presentations, and parent's weekend!

This photo is of me, my friend Sage, and Liz who I talked about in my first post! We have formal Fridays each week so this photo is from a few Fridays ago.

Expeditions start on Wednesday which is right around the corner. If you aren't familiar with 9-day expeditions: they're basically 9-day trips off-campus where students either sail throughout the day and anchor at night or kayak throughout the day and beach camp in tents/hammocks at night. We have the chance to give input about which group we'd prefer, but unless it's for a medical reason, the chances of getting sail vs. kayak are mostly random. Sailing expeditions use two 20-foot sailboats and the group sizes are 13-15 students. I've been told that sail will stop at some beaches occasionally to explore small islands and snorkel but all the camping is done on the boat otherwise. Kayak expeditions are really similar to 3-day kayak because we travel throughout the day, stop for lunch on small beaches, and camp on other beaches throughout the night in tents or hammocks.

This photo is of a hammock on Sunset Beach which is right outside of the Harbor Pointe restaurant! (You can vaguely see my friend Eleanor in the background taking a Gopro video of me!)

Personally, I'm impartial to sail vs. kayak. I've never been sailing but I've always wanted to try it out and kayak 3-day was a challenging experience but also extremely fun! I think it really depends on the group of people you get rather than the specific travel option. The portion of the trips that I think most of us are nervous about is the solo. Solo is a 48-hour wilderness solo experience but that is really all we know about it...

At Island School, the thing you say is "We'll talk about solo when we have solo." This is understandable but also frustrating because I have so many questions about the experience! How much water do we get? Can we bring a book? How many times will I be checked on? How far away is the next solo spot from mine? What do I do if there's an emergency? No worries for us though because I know that they will answer all of our questions soon. (I'm learning that patience is a virtue, can't you tell?)

This Chaco appreciation photo includes me and my friend Sage's feet. This photo was taken in the Pres Room which is one of our four classrooms! We usually have night classes in this room with the entire class of 52.

We've been preparing for our solos with small snippets of 2-3 hour alone time throughout the semester. We call these time periods "Querencia" and we're not allowed to bring any electronics, bring books, or talk to anyone else. Querenica means to recharge and rest, just as a bull does when fighting. Whenever Querencia time starts, we are all rushing to the bike shed to get off campus and find our spots. My Querencia spot is in-between a beach next to a run-down golf course called "4th Hole" and a fishing spot with sharks called "No Name." No one has stolen my Querencia spot yet but I still try to be one of the first people out on bikes to secure my spot.

During Querencia time, I usually just sit in my crazy creek chair and journal in my Island School place-book. Last Querencia we were given a task to come up with three personal goals throughout the next few weeks in expeditions. Weirdly enough, it started to rain really hard so I came back from my Querencia early and didn't get a chance to come up with any goals while I was alone. But the most exciting part of my afternoon yesterday during Querencia was seeing tens and tens of land crabs coming out from their rain-soaked holes. My Querencia spot is a good distance away from campus so it was both funny and stressful to play real-life Mario Kart with the laterally-moving land crabs. I still really value my Querencia time (even when it is raining) because it allows you to reset from the fast-paced Island School experience and take a breath.

This photo is of my advisory at world cup which is an annual Island School soccer tournament. My advisory got 3rd place and our team theme was Coachella because of my advisor (not pictured): Coach Ella! Part of my extended advisory is pictured also! On the bottom right is Katelyn and she works on the farm!

Expeditions also include DITs (down island trips)! These are really exciting down island voyages that include 5-day car camping, informal and formal interviews with local people, and a chance to step outside of the Island School bubble of South Eleuthera. DITS are led by the histories class guiding question of "How does tourism affect a place?". We've already had some really amazing Harkness discussions in histories class about our initial ideas on the impacts of tourism but I think it will be even more interesting to travel to North Eleuthera and see it in person!

Bringing back the idea of final projects, final projects are student-driven and advisor-led projects that seeks to fill a knowledge gap or specific need in the community. A few days ago, we had a brainstorming session where we thought of around 20-30 different project ideas. We had to fill out proposals for all of these ideas to show that they were thoroughly thought out and had passionate minds driving them. These projects will be finalized after we get back from expeditions and the groups will have 5-8 people in each of them. There will also be 7-9 projects in total and each will be presented at the end of the semester.

(These photos are from the Harbor Pointe restaurant which is the only true food option other than the Marina Store and all of its candy. We can only go to Harbor Pointe on Sundays so these photos were taken of me and my friend Lucy a few weeks ago. These mango smoothies keep me going!)

This photo is a picture of me with my friend Caroline! This picture was taken in the South Gazebo which is one of three on-campus gazebos where we can do work and hang out!

I'm very excited for 9-day and DITs and hope that they are as exciting, challenging, and self-progressing as they have been for past students! I'm also pretty bummed to miss my Sunday phone times, holidays like Easter, and taking any form of shower from a shower head for 9-days. This being said, we haven't been able to take real showers for about a month now because it hasn't been raining at all except for small bits in the last few days. At one point, I think we had 3 days of fresh water left which was terrifying but turned out to be okay because CEI (Cape Eleuthera Institute) and CSD, (Center for Sustainable Development) both research branches of the Island School community, gave us some of their cistern water. It doesn't really feel that strange to not have showered in an indoor shower because after runs and swims I just use my biodegradable soap in the ocean and then rinse for 20 seconds using the outdoor showers. Still, I think I am going to feel very gross after not shower head showering or being able to see myself in a mirror for over a week... Still looking forward to expeditions and all they hold and for when the whole class gets back from their trips and we all reconcile ON MAY 6th!

I'm sorry again for not posting as often as I said I would. In an effort to try and be where my feet are, I've been minimizing on computer screen time and maximizing my time with the Island School/South Eleutheran environment! The only things I've used my computer (other than school work) has been for music! In an effort to try and use up the last bits of screen time I'll have for the next few weeks, I've been listening to the same four songs over and over again so I won't miss them. In case you wanted to know: they're Impossible Germany by Wilco, Ocean Drive by Duke Dumont, Back to Black by Amy Winehouse, and Violent Crimes by Kanye.

This picture was taken last Saturday when the Island School board was on campus having meetings and we all did a high rock jump. Shoutout to my math teacher Andrew for holding my hand so I didn't fall off the cliff.

A high rock jump is pretty special because it’s a big community activity where students and faculty run or bike to high rock and we all jump off the 15-foot ledge together! We did a high rock jump on the first full school day so we've only ever done two official school-wide jumps. Last Saturday, I decided to run both ways which is around 4 miles. Before Island School, I would NEVER have chosen to run this unless I had to but since I've been on run track, training for a half marathon at the end of the semester, I've gotten so much better at running! It feels really rewarding to feel stronger in an activity that has challenged me so much in my pre-Island School life! (More to come on athletics in a future post...)

I'm excited to update you all once I get back from expeditions. Thank you again for tuning into my semester experience blog! Shoutout to all my loves at home in the States, my friend Harry for taking a sick high rock picture of me, and my advisor Ella for letting me post while I've been gone! <3