Last week the Cape Eleuthera Institute and the Island School welcomed 18 South Eleutheran children to campus for a sleep away camp focusing on the world we live in and how we can preserve it. Through the camp the kids, who range in age from 9 to 13, are getting to snorkel, dissect fish, participate in research in the fields of conch and bonefish, and travel to the Ocean hole and Rock Sound caves. All of this is coupled with lessons and education on the nature that these children encounter in their daily lives on the island.
South Eleuthera Explorers ready to jump off the dock!
It is the hope of the camp that the kids will take back some lessons in water preservation, harmful effects of lionfish on native ecosystems and living a more sustainable life, and further their education on these topics in the future. Continue reading →
After leading the Deep Creek Natural History Camp, two of our Educational Programs staff helped out with the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) week-long SeaCamp. They met up with the campers in Governor’s Harbour (GH) for a field trip. When they got to the Haynes Library, the BREEF camp leader (and IS/CEI alum) – Allanah – had all the kids excited and ready for their first field trip.
The first stop was the Hatchet Bay Caves and then they toured a brand new, organic farm just across from the caves. The kids learned all about the farm including the mango trees that will fruit twice a year and the miracle fruit that makes anything you eat, after eating this fruit, taste like the sweetest thing. It felt like a field trip to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory! Next they went to Cheetah’s pineapple farm and learned about the lost art of farming pineapple in the red soils of Eleuthera. Several kids went home with ‘pineapple slips’, part of the plant you can pop into some water and 19 months late have a fruit to eat. And that was just the morning! Continue reading →
The past 12 days have been a whirlwind for a group of 15 students from Carlsbad, Northern San Diego, California. The first week of the program, the students embarked in discovering all the different research areas that CEI is currently involved in. These are just a few of the plethora of activities that we delved into: snorkelling the cage, cutting glass with Sam for the new resource building, jumping off high rock, playing in the pink sand on Harbour Island, observing echinoderms and their tubed feet frenzy over on the sand bar, night wading around the boathouse, followed by many more.
On day one we were out with the flats team seining in some adverse conditions. The rain held us indoors for a couple days, where the student’s day varied from discussing sustainability to dissecting a sponge and learning all about the critters that inhabit the watery pores of a lovely smelling stinker sponge!
The Grade twos and threes from Wemyss Bight Primary School have each come to visit The Island School campus and learn all about how animals get their food, water and protection in order to survive. After meeting and greeting the Educational Program staff, the students went to feed the pigs at the Island School Farm. On site we have six incredibly large pigs that consume much of the food waste from our dining hall. The grade three students helped Fran shovel the leftover food into the pig pen and students and pigs equally squealed with delight. Next, the students met (and pet!) our Muskovy ducks that provide eggs for our kitchen and saw a mother duck incubating her egg.
Students from WBPS about to participate in a game that emphasizes living sustainably!
After a snack break, the students explored how a variety of marine invertebrates survive in the ocean. They touched sea urchins, juvenile conch and a sea star. Throughout their visit, the students discovered different ways The Island School and CEI strive to tread lighter on our planet and balanced all this information out with a few silly games and tons of songs. We dropped them off back at WBPS with giant smiles, high fives and hugs just in time for lunch. The Educational Program staff is looking forward to working with the Grade six class from Governors Harbour next week!
Last week, our second CEI Symposium kicked off with the first night of presentations by Liz Underwood on lionfish reproduction sites, Skylar Miller discussing larval lionfish recruitment, Maddy Young on flats ecology, and Melissa Dick on mangrove cultivator pots. The second night yielded interesting presentations by Peter Wilson on the oceanic whitetip shark expedition, Lauren Horton on stingray physiology, Will Urmston presenting on the best medium to plant microgreens in, and Kristal Ambrose presenting on her beach plastic research.
CEI hosts a large variety of research projects and this symposium is a great way to showcase the hard work done by the interns for the past five months. Nice job everyone!
Lead educator Tiff Gray with students from St. Andrews
Last week, Educational Programs at CEI had their hands full with two classes hailing from St. Andrew’s School in Nassau, home of the Hurricanes. The first class, a group of 17 students, had a blast helping the plastics, lionfish, and bonefish research teams. Students arrived from Nassau and executed their first day nicely with lots of energy and enthusiasm! The first item on the agenda was a sustainable systems scavenger hunt, exploring the grounds and learning important facts about sustainability initiatives around campus. That afternoon, they spoke with Kristal Ambrose, Patch Reef Researcher & plastic enthusiast, on her plastics research project at CEI. Although the rain put a damper on data collection, they were able to conduct beach plastic surveys the next afternoon and utilize this data for their Math class back at
St. Andrews’ students enjoying a beach bonfire on their last night.
St. Andrew’s. The second day they headed down island to explore the caves of Rock Sound, journal at the Banyon Tree, and swim in Ocean Hole. That afternoon they took a stroll down the beach at Paige Creek to learn about the Flats ecosystem and chat with Liane Nowell about her exciting master’s project on Bonefish. The day ended with a bonfire and s’mores on the beach! Their last day started with a joyful school reunion when the second class from St. Andrew’s arrived. Continue reading →
This past Thursday, April 18, the Island School and CEI hosted a Tourism and Coastal Development Symposium. This event was organized by CEI, One Eleuthera, the Kinship Conservation Fellows, and other partners.The focus of the symposium was to discuss the future of Eleuthera, and guests included government officials, representatives from BREEF, One Eleuthera, FIsheries Conservation Foundation, Bahamas Electric Company, Bahamas Waste Ltd., and the Bahamas National Trust to name a few. Island School students also got the opportunity to attend the symposium, and to hear about these timely issues facing Eleuthera.
There were several productive breakout sessions, with topics ranging from “Tourism and Development” to “Fisheries and Agricultural Parks” to “the Cultural History of the Bahamas”. There were many important comments from the audience, including questions posed by Island School and Deep Creek Middle School students. Continue reading →
Emma E. Cooper Primary school joined us last week for an afternoon tour. However, this was no typical tour of campus! The entire primary school came with Kindergarten through grade 6, a total of 83 students and 8 teachers; we had quite the group! It was their first visit in 4 years and all were more than excited to be here at Island School.
Seven Queens University students, a group of visiting students from Ontario, Canada here fulfilling the field requirement for their teaching degree, came to lend a hand. We split the students into groups where they rotated between three different stations. In the Wet lab, they not only saw all the checkered puffers, bonefish, juvenile lemon sharks, lionfish, yellow stingrays, cobia, tilapia, etc. but they also learned how and why we are studying these marine species. The next station was a virtual tour of a coral reef – a movie by BREEF (Bahamas Reef Environmental Education Foundation) where the students learned what makes a coral reef, its importance in the Bahamas, and how to protect this fragile coastal ecosystem. The third station was split between the farm with pigs, ducks and a permaculture garden, and the sustainable systems of campus. The systems tour exposed students to how we make biodiesel for our school vans, resource/recycle ~90% of what we use, and how we reduce our energy “footprint” by using solar panels and a wind turbine to produce energy. Continue reading →
CEI attended the 2013 Rock Sound Homecoming as part of their community outreach, and engaged the local community members in a conversation about marine conservation.
The CEI booth was packed with information on a range of issues including plastics awareness, conch conservation, sharks, climate change, bonefish best handling practices, aquaponics, and aquaculture info. We also had free giveaways! The fried lionfish and tilapia samples were a big hit, especially with all the local kids! The aquaculture mini system and free lettuce was also very popular. The day in Rock Sound was great fun – thank-you to all the CEI staff and interns who help run the booth. Look forward to the next homecoming!
This eyewitness account was written by a student in the University School-Hathaway Brown Program:
Before getting started, allow me to explain one reason why the Island School was such an eye-opening, incredible experience for my group and me. We are from Cleveland. Between the incessant snow and cloudy days, it seems that conservation is the last thing on our minds. So when our science research-based school club (the Anderson Scholars) of five boys, in addition to five girls (also interested in science research) from our all-girls sister school Hathaway Brown, received the notice that we would be spending a week in the beautiful, sunny Bahamas, we didn’t know what to expect.
The Island School is its own microcosm of shape shifting individuals. From the engaging curriculum, an individual becomes a motivated student. From the hands-on outdoor activities, one becomes a teammate. From the encouragement of others, one transforms into a leader. While most schools are trying to discover a way to make their curriculum applicable to the outside world, the Island School has already developed several tried and true methods to make it a precedent for said schools. The school is a place where the words “when will I ever use this outside of class?” will never be uttered from a student’s lips. The students are warm, outgoing, and most importantly, passionate; they are passionate about school, conservation, and lifting each other up. The science researchers are driven, and extremely helpful. Continue reading →
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