The afternoon was full-on, filled with the CEI shark research team, shark handling demonstrations, and a stingray tagging experience. Research Technician Cameron Raguse kicked things off with a short presentation on shark ecology, explaining their role as a top-predator in the Bahamas and how integral they are to maintaining a stable ecosystem. The students then split into groups alternating between two activities: one with Dr. Owen O’Shea and his team for stingray tagging; and one with University of Illinois graduate student, Ian Bouyoucos demonstrating shark handling and physiology. In each case, the students got an in-depth look at research here at CEI, as well as getting up-close with some often misunderstood animals.

At the end of the day, the group left with a better understanding of elasmobranchs as a whole, and a deeper appreciation for the wildlife right at their doorstep.

To check out photos from the camp, go to our Flickr album!

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As part of the kick-off for the weekend on Friday June 5th, Jack Johnson took part in a designation ceremony to become a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The designation was timely as last Friday marked World Environment Day, a UN flagship event encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment, celebrated in over 100 countries.

Included in the kickoff to the festivities hosted on The Island School’s campus were remarks from Chris Maxey, founder of The Cape Eleuthera Island School, Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen, founders of the 5 Gyres Institute and Celine Cousteau, film maker, environmentalist and daughter of ocean explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau and the granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau. Also in the line up was Kristal Ambrose, founder of Bahamas Plastic Movement and Minister of Education, Science and Technology, The Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald.

The first day of the Summit centered around raising awareness on the issue of plastic pollution so that the students could create their own solutions based on the stories and information they’d received. In the afternoon students, facilitators, Jack Johnson and visiting UNEP representative, Naysan Sahba visited a local beach to do a clean-up lead by Kristal Ambrose. The day finished with a Junkanoo, cultural activity lead by Art teacher and Space to Create founder, Will Simmons in which Summit attendees, Island School students and Jack Johnson created original songs about plastic pollution to the Junkanoo beat provided by the visiting South Eleutheran students from Preston H. Albury High School.

The second day began with a workshop on how to reduce single-use disposable plastics in the household. Students were given tips and tools on how to make their own toothpaste and steer away from buying highly packaged products and personal care products containing plastic micro-beads. After lunch, David Stover, co-founder of Bureo Skateboards told his story of making skateboards from fish netting found in the ocean and beaches of Chile. The students then sifted through their findings from Friday’s clean-up to create a symbolic SEA Change eye sculpture out of plastics with Dianna Cohen, founder of Plastic Pollution Coalition. The sculpture was then showcased at the Deep Creek Homecoming where Summit attendees enjoyed a plastic free event thanks to a donation by World Centric for all food packaging. Recover also pitched in with a donation of t-shirts for the homecoming made from recycled plastic bottles.

The last day of the Summit was spent teaching the students how to tell and share their own stories and to create their own solutions. Facilitators and visiting activists, scientists and artists participated in group discussions on how each student could make a change in their home, on their island and in their country. The day ended in a closing ceremony with music by local band, The Rum Runners, as well as Jack Johnson, who performed alongside local and visiting musicians and even played a tune with two Island School students.

Summit organizer, The Island School’s Brittney Maxey, was blown away by the energy coming from the young students. “This is a historical event not only for us at The Island School and the island of Eleuthera, but also for The Bahamas and other island nations as a whole. We are sending these motivated young people back out into the world equipped with the tools to make a difference in their communities. The Island School’s mission is leadership affecting change and this weekend embodied this belief not only for the students but for the island of Eleuthera. We are a small place making big change.”

Thank you to event supporters: Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation, AML Foods, Cape Eleuthera Resort & Marina, Recover, World Centric, From the Bow Seat, Bahamas Waste Limited, Cable Bahamas, One Eleuthera, The Muggia Family and Kim & Floyd Wilson

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This past Saturday, the Deep Creek Middle School Early Act and Eco Club teamed up with Preston H. Albury High School’s newly formed Eco Club to sort plastics 1, 2, and 5. It wasn’t the prettiest job – sorting plastic bags and food containers and removing bottle caps from a few hundred bottles – but friendly competition made it fun as three groups each tried to sort the most!

All plastics will be sent to Cans for Kids in Nassau and then sent to the United States for recycling. Cans for Kids is a Bahamian non-profit that recycles cans, and recently plastics, to raise money for schools and youth organizations. This event was an effort to spruce up the recycling center at the South Eleuthera Emergency Partners (SEEP) in Tarpum Bay and to implement a One Eleuthera grant-funded recycling program in South Eleutheran schools over the next few months.

Twenty-two students from both schools and nine adults from One Eleuthera, Cape Eleuthera Institute, Deep Creek Middle School, Rotaract Club of Eleuthera, and the Rotary Club of Eleuthera participated. Big thanks to Nikki for the great pictures from the event, Sophia for rallying her Early Act Club, and Luanette for coming out to support!

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The planning phase for this project began in October of this year. Deep Creek Primary School teachers and CEI staff met to discuss the potential of a collaborative project that would not only be educational but also provide students with the opportunity to gain valuable practical skills.

A Parent Teacher Association meeting was held in mid October to ensure that all key-stakeholders were incorporated in the planning process and that there was sufficient backing to support the initiative.  The meeting was a great success with demonstrated support from teachers, student’s parents and local community members. An assessment of the surrounding grounds was completed by the key-stakeholders and an area adjacent to the school was chosen for the location of the proposed garden.

In early November the first gardening day was held with a great turn out; 21 community members and 8 CEI staff came together to start clearing the borders of the land so that grow-beds could be constructed.  Weekly gardening days were arranged to continue land-clearing efforts and seedlings were planted in preparation for transplanting into the anticipated grow-beds. The great physical effort of clearing the land was alleviated in late November by The Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina, who kindly helped support this initiative by donating the use of their back-hoe to assist with clearing the large area of land and digging holes for fruit trees. This support was an enormous help to further the project.

Each class will have their own grow-bed, which they will be responsible for the up-keep of, creating ownership and competition between classes. Maintenance of the garden and respective class grow-beds will be incorporated into student daily chores. The combination of ownership that students have over the garden and competition between classes will motivate students and hopefully ensure the success of the project! This endeavor will not only provide students with useful knowledge but also requires them to be responsible and accountable for a project, a great life skill to practice.

In early December, a couple of fruit trees were planted, 7 of the class grow-beds were constructed and the previously potted seedlings were transplanted to the garden. Future plans include planting many more fruits and vegetables in the garden so that healthy meals can be produced for students at the school, and increasing education and awareness amongst students about a balanced, nutritional, healthy diet.

By early December, 43 Deep Creek Primary School students, the 5 Deep Creek Primary School teachers, 10 student relatives and 14 CEI staff had contributed to the community garden.

During semester time every Tuesday at 3pm, students, teachers, parents, community members and staff from CEI are committed to assisting the primary school with the set-up and expansion of the school community garden project- you are welcome to join us!

We need your help supporting the school community garden. Can you help by donating tools, seeds or plants?

If you would like more information or are interested in donating please contact Candice Brittain at candicebrittain@ceibahamas.org or call 334 8552 ext. 6206.

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Last week, a group of grade 8 students from the Lyford Cay International School flew over from Nassau to visit the Cape Eleuthera Island School. These sixteen students made it their mission to develop an idea for their year-long Take Action projects. The projects, focused on environmental stewardship, look to empower the students to push for sustainable solutions to the problems which plague their school or community. Over their three-day visit, the students focused on learning about alternative energy, water conservation, waste and plastics pollution, and permaculture.

Shortly after their arrival, students were exposed to the CEIS’s renewable energy systems during a tour of campus. Then, with the help of sustainability teacher Mike Cortina, the students explored different ways we harness energy from our environment here on campus: solar thermal to heat water as well as photovoltaic and wind to create electricity. The students were also introduced to biodiesel production, one of the crown jewels of our alternative energy systems.

A quick stop at one of the cisterns gave students a chance to measure and get a firsthand look at the campus’ water catchment system.  After coming face to face with a few frogs, everyone was thankful to learn about the UV filtration system!  Despite being surrounding by water on all sides in The Bahamas, students developed a better understanding of the sobering reality of how limited water resources truly are.

For the next lesson, the permaculture team took the students out of the classroom and into the muck.  The group quickly realized that learning about composting at The Island School means getting your hands dirty!  In teams, the 8th graders gathered leaves, shoveled manure, collected food waste, and chopped up brush to create their own compost pile using the 18 day Berkeley method.  It’s a great method of reducing waste that some of the students thought could be implemented at Lyford Cay with relative ease.

In order to visualize the prevalence of plastics on land and in our oceans, the group went out to Cotton Bay Beach to conduct plastic surveys. After walking the beach, students observed the effects of our consumerist society and recognised the need to inspire change.

Despite the rigorous academic schedule, students did have a chance to experience life as members of The Island School’s community and do a little exploring. After being invited by the IS students, the Lyford Cay got a taste of morning exercise and competed in a girls vs. boys run/swim.  To top off their trip, the students visited the Rock Sound caves,  picnicked at Ocean Hole for a bit of decompression time, and reflected upon their experiences under a banyan tree before heading home.

During their whirlwind trip, the students developed some exciting and ambitious new ideas to combat environmental issues in their own backyards. Solar panels on the new upper school, living roofs to lower energy costs, and plastic bag eradication in the local supermarkets are just a few of the ideas in the works. With their Take Action projects still in their infantile stages, we here at CEI are excited to see what will come to fruition in the next few months!

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This building is being constructed following the Living Building Challenge guidelines, the built environment’s most stringent building program.  This dictates not only the building materials that are allowed to be used in the structure, but that its performance must be monitored over a 12 month consecutive period after occupancy to meet all objectives (produce 105% of all energy consumed on site; collect all water consumed on site; process all waste water on site; limitation on distance that materials can travel to the construction site).  Key building features include: polished concrete floors incorporating recycled glass; 100% passive cooling through precise building placement and thermal mass used in construction, windows and doors that allow 100% of the opening to be operable allowing for maximum ventilation, and a reflective white roof which will help minimize the transfer of heat into the living spaces.  PVC is being eliminated from this building as much as possible.  All potable water lines are Aquatherm (made from polypropylene), waste and drain lines are ABS plastic, and all electrical conduit is high density polyethylene (HDPE).  Decking board will be made from Rumber® (recycled HDPE and car tires), and deck railings are going to be recycled HDPE.  The interior and exterior wall finishes will be Marblecrete© which is a natural stucco that resists mildewing and does not require painting.  This building is designed for minimal maintenance and maximum comfort all while being a model for sustainable building practices within The Bahamas.

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Green Castle Primary School’s teacher, Ms. Mary Thompson, brought her class of students in grades 5 & 6 for a marine invertebrate and snorkel trip at the Cape Eleuthera Institute last Tuesday. Students first discussed 4 common invertebrate phyla they might find: cnidarians, echinoderms, porifera, and mollusks. Then they headed out to snorkel off the beach! This was an exciting trip for students who examined the different invertebrates we found such as cushion sea stars, a brittle star, juvenile conch, a sea anemone, rose coral, and even a little periwinkle.

On Wednesday, Ms. Nathalie Sweeting with Wemyss Bight Primary grade 4 came for a trip to explore some of the sustainable systems on campus. Students started off reviewing the differences between renewable and nonrenewable resources. Then the class headed out to various systems around campus so that they could see these concepts in action. Their first stop was the dining hall cistern to measure how much water we had at the time and to talk about water conservation. Then they headed over to the wind turbine and solar panels to discuss some of the differences between how we get our energy and where they get theirs at home. A highlight for students was the aquaponics system where sustainability teacher, Adam Dusen, caught a few Tilapia and described how the system works to produce fish and hydroponically grown plants for consumption in the dining hall. It was great to get a close-up look at the unique system.

We would like to thank both schools for their enthusiasm about marine science and sustainability.  We look forward to seeing other classes from both schools here on campus in the future!

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At the start of our second week, we really got into the swing of things. We began our classes, Human Ecology and Environmental Issues, where we learned how to live more sustainably in our daily lives. Each of us chose a topic of interest to research and present to the rest of the group.

For example, we learned about climate change, inlet dredging, and the harmful effects of our reliance on oil. Each afternoon, after class, we had the opportunity to shadow the research groups that study sharks, sea turtles, lionfish, and flats. Experiencing first hand the inside world of research being done around us was incredible. During this second week, we also began our morning exercise routine to prepare for our upcoming triathlon and our weekly community service.

The Island School community has been incredibly welcoming. On the third week, we were invited to a CEI wedding, where we danced to the Rum Runners, a local Eleutheran band. Each week we look forward to having a family dinner at Liz’s house. Last week, we made lionfish tacos and played corn-hole with local kids.

We have been taking advantage of our surroundings so much so that the salt seems to never dry off our skin. We have already learned so much in our time here at The Island School, most importantly the significance of relationships with both the people around us and the environment we live in. We are excited to explore Eleuthera during our kayak and down island expeditions over the next two weeks.

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Teachers and Vice Principal, Ms. Knowles, from Preston H. Albury High School came to visit during teacher’s planning week in late August. This visit served as the start to a collaboration regarding ways that CEI may support their curriculum planning with a focus on scientific research, native Bahamian resources, and small island sustainability. We hope that teachers of all subject areas, not just biology and the sciences but also math, English, art and other subjects, see a connection with the projects we have here at CEIS.

During their time on campus, some of the teachers investigated the invasive lionfish through a dissection. Some watched while others took part in the dissection identifying the lionfish’s venemous spines as well as how to fillet and eat the fish! Others explored the aquaponics system and are interested in starting a program at PHA in the future.  Finally, some teachers learned about the current status of local conch populations.

We had a tremendous time collaborating with the teachers of PHAHS. It was a pleasure to have them on campus and share some of the research projects and educational programs offered at CEIS.

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