Island Updates

Participants deem Leadership Retreat an overwhelming success

When you hear someone speak of a ‘school leader’ your mind normally goes to images of superintendents or principals and conjures up some jumble of paperwork, meetings, and administration of people and programs. What may not immediately jump to mind are teachers as leaders: the people in the school building without the official title of 'leader' that affect change and motivate others to achieve what they would not or could not on their own.   

For three days at the end of June, school leaders of all kinds converged on Hurricane Island for the second annual Leadership Retreat, which was led by a team of skilled facilitators including Dr. Linda Bowe, Dr. Richard Ackerman, Dr. Gordon Donaldson, Dr. Doug Babkirk and Hurricane Island’s own Barney Hallowell and Dr. Jenn Page. 

The weekend allowed significant facilitated time for leaders to collaborate on critical school initiatives mixed with dynamic activities designed to increase leadership capacity in attendees.  Exploration hikes, gigging (boating) challenges, and collective post-meal time discussions were all part of the experience, which served to both empower attendees and improve their ability to work and communicate effectively.  

No comment on the activities of the Retreat would be complete without mentioning the boat ride out to the island! Pelting rain, 30mph gusts of wind, and a small craft advisory only seemed to strengthen the resolve of the participants to make it out to the island that first day. They were immediately integrated into the Hurricane Island culture when they hit the dock and were met by our capable interns who schlepped bags and showed the leaders to their respective cabins or bunks before sitting them down to a hot meal prepared by our chef Micah.    

Most attendees came with other teachers and administrators from their schools or school districts, comprising small, 2-3 person groups all the way up to a massive 15 person unit that hailed from various levels across the Camden-Rockport School District.  Some teachers even came as individual ambassadors from their schools and were linked to other participants as necessary to help them meet their personal goals. Everyone left the experience with a renewed sense of purpose and a much stronger vision regarding the challenges they brought to the Retreat with them.

In many ways it is really not my place as a facilitator to say whether the Retreat was a "success" or not as that really is determined by individual participants. Luckily, we were joined on the last day of the retreat by Dr. Roland Barth and Dr. Tom Edwards who visited with groups and helped crystalize the experience in a final participant circle. They posed the question, ‘What aspects of the environment here made it so incredibly conducive to your success during this retreat?’.  As the question made its way around the circle participants were allowed to duplicate answers by others before them but, remarkably, almost every participant came up with a new facet of the environment that made the experience so valuable for them.  The list below captures the retreat far better than I ever could in pages of blog posts:

  • Variety
  • Colleagues
  • Trust and risk
  • Dedicated people
  • Intention
  • Time
  • Freedom from distraction
  • Support (personal and professional)
  • Collaboration
  • ‘Island-time’ (everything slows down)
  • Salt water & granite
  • Common goals
  • Honesty
  • Skilled facilitators
  • Courage
  • Commitment
  • Experiential learning
  • Input/feedback from others
  • Caring
  • Hope
  • Connection to the natural world
  • Physical activity
  • Adventure
  • Flexibility
  • Humor
  • Concentration
  • Joy
  • Questioning
  • Playfulness
  • Nourishment
  • Conversations
  • Developing relationships
  • Disclosing your learning
  • Applicability
  • Novelty

A big 'thank you' to all those who participated in the Leader's Retreat this year and we can't wait to build on this success with future retreats!

Subscribe in a reader

Wilderness First Responder

Playing out a scenario means that students are engaged both as patients and as responders-- here a student records and assesses the severity of the situation

We are pleased to announce that there are eight newly trained and certified Wilderness First Responders ready to go out and troubleshoot injuries from sprained ankles to lightning strikes. With guidance from their qualified and fearless Wilderness Medical Associates leader, Deborah, students systematically learned the symptoms of and how to respond to acute stress reactions, compensated volume shock, traumatic brain injuries, hypothermia, and anaphylaxis, among other wilderness emergencies.

These programs are hands-on and active, so students were setting up scenarios all around Hurricane. The reality of these scenarios was also reinforced by the fact that Hurricane is 12 miles offshore, and removed from immediate access to definitive care.  The staff got used to pretend shrieks for help, and the sight of someone walking around the kitchen sporting a fake wound or washing off fake blood was the new baseline for the week.

It is always a pleasure to support wilderness medical training programs, as we look forward to the five-day WFR program as well as a WALS and WEMT programs coming up in August! There is still space in the programs, so reserve your spot by registering today!

“I can’t think of any location better suited for our week-long WFR training. From brilliant sunrises in the boathouse to outdoor showers overlooking the working waterfront to days spent in our rustic classroom to sunset picnics on the beach, Hurricane Island provided an inspiring environment that promoted a sense of camaraderie that made our experience one for the memory books. I treasure my time spent on the island, and look forward to soon returning to the island, her people and her food!”
— Keryn G. WFR Participant

A student gets moulage to act the part of a patient who fell off a ladder in a scenario

Responders team up to safely extricate their patient to a different location so they can properly examine him during a scenario

Newly graduated WFRs!

Subscribe in a reader

First Impressions of Hurricane Island

Below are a few of our intern's first impressions of their new home and workplace for the summer, and the start of their adventures on Hurricane Island.

Bailey Moritz- Spotting porpoises, checking lobster traps, hiking up an appetite for homemade bread, peacefully watching the sun set. What more could one ask out of their first few days on the job? Already we’ve experienced a range of weather conditions, from burning sun to driving rain to wind with a nod of affirmation to the islands name. With each turn of the clouds, a new side of Hurricane Island comes out. It makes me realize that no matter how many days I spend out here, I may never be able to experience every angle of its beauty. That’s a special thing and I’m so excited to be out here!

Walking to the galley the other evening, we could see the Farm to Table guests enjoying the waterfront, students from the WFR training program up on the rocks reenacting anaphylactic shock, and staff members unloading the truck from our campfire cookout. There are so many moving pieces, so much activity going on at once, a span of tasks tiny to daunting, and yet it seems to work in orchestra. Everyone moves about in a perfectly busy sort of sync. Things get done. Things get done together. And there is nothing more welcome that stepping up and doing things that need doing. I am already humbled by the knowledge that is present here amongst the other members of the island community. From bird calls to boating skills, I can tell I’m going to learn so much on a day to day basis. I’ve already got my eye on a handful of edible plants I never knew about. Here’s to a full and engaged summer!

Olivia Lukacic- Giddy nervousness was all I was feeling Monday morning as the interns gathered at the office in Rockland awaiting our boat ride out to the island. And what an amazing day to greet us-but even better than that is the community here that has already welcomed us new friends to the island.

Our whole time, out of the less than forty eight hours that we have been here, has been a wonderful introduction of learning the ropes of the island, gaining understanding of work flows, and watching in awe of how everyone helps out and is constantly evolving in their role.

I am on Hurricane this summer to be an educator and yet I am thrilled by how much I am going to learn and grow myself. On the first day on the island, Oakley took a group of us out on one of the boats to check his recreational lobster traps. Not only was it fun and beautiful but I learned a bunch about boating and the local lobstering community. For example, you can determine the gender of a lobster by looking at a set of swimmerettes on the underside near all the legs by whether they are more delicate and smaller or more robust. Also I used a tool to see if the lobster was large enough to keep! If they are not big enough we tossed them back into the water and sometimes when their claws are up over their heads they look like superman descending into the depths.

We have walked some of the many beautiful trails to look at the variety of ecosystems and see the parts of the island as well as check out the sustainable infrastructure that helps us run off the grid. I think my favorite place as of now is looking out to Two Bush Island since it is a curious island that can be accessed by foot during low tide. I hope to explore it more soon!

Jacque Rosa- It’s day two on Hurricane Island, and it has been another jam-packed day for us interns. Starting a new job is always a whirlwind of names, policies, and duties, but so far it has been nothing but fun.

I moved from Catalina Island (off the coast of Los Angeles), to this one (off the coast of Rockland, Maine). I’m not sure I could get any further across the country if I tried.  Although I’m accustomed to an island lifestyle, life on Hurricane is still full of new experiences, and I am welcoming each one with open arms. This island is a mix of old and new: historic buildings with recent additions, old traditions with a fresh twist, and old timers showing new hires the ropes. To date, all my previous internships and jobs have been in organizations that were quite established, and in some cases, they were quite large too. It is exhilarating to be part of a program that is relatively new and still growing. I am seeing the inner workings of a non-profit organization, from networking and logistics, to lesson plans and program development. I am eager to contribute and help this community grow as the summer goes by.

So far we have explored the island quite a bit. We hiked the perimeter trail and visited the two highest points on the island. While the views from the High Cliffs are gorgeous and the forests offer a huge variety of plants, flowers, and birds, I am especially excited to start digging into the intertidal. Exploring marine habitats are always full of surprises. Under any rock or piece of algae could be an opportunity to catch a glimpse into underwater life.

There seems to be so much to learn here from each person I meet and each place I visit. It is great to be surrounded by people as eager and passionate to learn as I am. Our staff contains a unique mix of knowledge and experience. I have no doubt that together we are going to make wonderful things happen on Hurricane Island. 

Subscribe in a reader

Executive Director Update

Dear Friend of Hurricane Island,

Just about five years ago - in the summer of 2010 - I sat with Peter Willauer aboard his J42, Eight Bells, in the Fox Islands Thorofare to design a new program for Hurricane Island. The Outward Bound school had left Hurricane in 2007, and POW wanted to give the island a new life.

We came up with the "Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership" to give kids the chance to learn science in meaningful, hands-on ways, shoulder to shoulder with working scientists, in an extraordinary natural environment. As a public school teacher and principal, I was well-aware of the challenges of providing engaging science instruction within the strictures and confines of the school day. To give students and teachers the opportunity to focus, learn and teach in a place like Hurricane seemed an ideal mission for the island. To address the critical national need for greater science literacy and more students pursuing science fields in college and as careers gave real purpose to our plan. And incorporating sustainable technologies, both out of necessity and for teaching purposes, enhanced the relevance of the off-grid setting of Hurricane Island.

We have run student programs on the island for three years now and are gaining traction - teachers, parents and kids are responding because they have a need for what we're offering. In 2015, we expect to serve more than 700 participants in island programs, with more than 2000 student-program days. They'll include:

Students from Epiphany School in Boston

  • Eastern Maine Skippers, a partnership of seven coastal Maine high schools
  • Epiphany School (Dorchester) and Cambridge School of Weston, Massachusetts
  • Proctor Academy, New Hampshire
  • Waynflete School, Gould Academy, Ashwood Waldorf School, Casco Bay High School for Expeditionary Learning, all in Maine
  • Northeast High School in Philadelphia Bowdoin, Colby, and the Universities of Maine and Vermont
  • ...and an array of our local private and public schools in midcoast Maine

All will be on Hurricane this summer to do engaging, meaningful, hands-on, in-the-field science and to become literate and proficient environmental leaders.

The most important evidence of our success comes from students themselves:

"Being on Hurricane Island and having the opportunity to enjoy nature was the most peaceful time I have ever known in my life... [It] was the first island I had ever been on and the most beautiful place I have ever been. It is almost mysterious; magic happens when you go through the program...From the moment I got on the boat to leave the island, with peace inside me, I knew I needed to come back. At Hurricane, we learned so much about ourselves and about other people. It was like stepping into a tidal pool, a different realm, where you discover so many small things with so much life in a quiet little space."

"The surprising thing is that once I got [to Hurricane], instead of feeling deprived I felt as though I had escaped...Being on Hurricane and free of distractions, I felt more alive; it opened me up to my surroundings...Hurricane Island itself is such a beautiful place, and although it's just an island, it has the ability to change the lives of those who are open to it. Once you look past the stunning beauty of the physical landscape, it has so much more to offer than just a nice view."

"The experience stays with me because I jumped into something completely unfamiliar. I learned on the fly, and managed to exercise then and there what I had learned. It gave me an awesome feeling to know that I was capable of finding my way without relying on modern technology. I felt so empowered and independent; I felt total elation."

This is what we're doing at the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership. We are being the change we want to see in the world. As a primary objective, we are helping middle and high school teachers motivate, prepare, and excite a new generation of science learners and leaders by providing them with an unequalled place to learn and the opportunity to do real, hands-on scientific investigation and observation, with high quality programs, great leadership training, and direct support from career scientists.

That plan we came up with on Eight Bells five years ago is being realized in a remarkably short time. We greatly appreciate the support we've been given since then, and continue to need your interest and contributions. We intend to be the best experiential education and leadership program anywhere, on the most extraordinary island anywhere. I hope you will come out to Hurricane this summer to see for yourself what is being accomplished there.

Sincerely,

 


Barney Hallowell
Executive Director

Subscribe in a reader

Epiphany School

Taking a break along the perimeter trail hike

Few places were left unexplored this past week during our outstanding program with students from the Epiphany School in Boston. We were joined by 16 energetic students and three chaperones for a four-day program that included a little bit of everything, from learning about the natural history of the island to fun leadership activities and rock climbing and sailing in Penobscot Bay!

We started the program learning about the ways that Hurricane Island operates off the grid, and showed students where our power and water comes from as well as how we deal with our food-waste and generate new soil for our gardens through composting.

The second day was a nice mix of learning about the birds on Hurricane with bird bingo and a bird hike (we spotted warblers, sparrows, eider ducks, and eagles throughout the program!), a history hike, and time spent out on Two Bush Island exploring low tide and flipping rocks in search of fun invertebrates. After that we enjoyed a big sailing day: the wind was blowing 15 knots out of the North all morning and then out of the West at 6 knots so we enjoyed full sails and sunny weather--a perfect day to spend on the water.

The rest of the program was packed with rock climbing adventures, learning about lobsters, and going on a botany hike. Rock climbing is definitely not just about the climber: all of the participants took time to learn how to carefully belay each other and communicate between climber and belayer to keep everyone safe and challenging each other to scale up the granite rock face. 

It is always fun to learn about the lobster industry, and students played with herring bait, learned about the lobster life cycle, and went out on the boat with Oakley to watch him haul his recreational lobster traps. Unfortunately, we ended up throwing back everything we caught because the lobsters weren't legal sized! So we had to take a rain check on a lobster dinner, but I suppose that means we will need to get all these wonderful students back out to Hurricane again! 

Bird bingo in action

Enjoying sunset after a busy day

Subscribe in a reader

7th Grade Vinalhaven Class Visit

We were pleased to host the 7th grade class from Vinalhaven for their end of year field trip for the second year in a row. The trip started out with a guided history hike around the island, learning about the quarrying community that resided on Hurricane over a century ago. It was fun for the students to learn about the history of an island that is so close to where they call home, and realize how Hurricane’s history has impacted that of Vinalhaven. They also got a chance to try to use old chisels and carving tools.

After snack the students learned more about our sustainable campus and how Hurricane operates completely off the grid. Their night on the island was spent singing campfire songs and roasting s’mores over our new campfire pit.

The next morning we focused on environmental ethics and the 7 Leave No Trace principles. Students got a chance to try out some activities based on each principle, as well as made up their own skits demonstrating 3 of the principles. It wouldn’t be a trip to Hurricane without a hike so before lunch Chloe took the group on a long walk around the perimeter of the island, specifically focusing on the plants that line the trails as well as the birds that live on and around Hurricane. We wrapped up their time on the island with a lively game of Hurricane trivia!

This trip was generously funded by the Vinalhaven Land Trust, we hope to continue to host the 7th grade Vinalhaven class for their end of the year trip for years to come! 

Subscribe in a reader

Waldorf School at Moraine Farm

Low tide on Two Bush Island with Heron's Neck Lighthouse in the background.

We were happy to host students from the Waldorf School at Moraine Farm for their 8th grade graduation trip from June 7-11, 2015. We started the program by exploring the intertidal between Two Bush Island and Hurricane, where we found green crabs, sea urchins, hermit crabs, sea stars, nudibranchs, and tons of periwinkles! We lucked out with some of the best tides of June, so we got to explore further out in the low intertidal than usual and also saw an amazing range of algae and new tide pools. After a snack break we switched gears to take a look at Maine's lobster fishery and see Oakley in action hauling his recreational lobster traps. While we caught a lot of lobsters, only two were legal-sized, so unfortunately we didn't have a lobster dinner that night. 

We spied tons of beautiful songbirds including American Redstarts, Northern Parula, Cedar Waxwings, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Black-Throated Green Warblers!

Another highlight of the program was learning about some of the commonly seen birds on Hurricane and their songs. After a quick summary, we headed out on a birding hike to see what we could spy through our binoculars. The highlight was right at the end, where we saw a flock of cedar waxwings in the apple trees. Cedar waxwings are particularly fond of eating apple petals, so we were able to get really close to observe them without startling them. Some other birds we saw were northern parula, american redstarts, black-throated green warblers, a golden crowned kinglet, and a song sparrow. We also heard the red breasted nuthatch and got more familiar with learning to identify birds through their songs.

We started off with a little rowing, but then the wind picked up for smooth sailing!

The weather had been a bit gray during the program, but on June 10 the sun came out just in time for a beautiful (and windy!) sail out to Bald Island. While we were underway, we continued bird watching and spied bald eagles, osprey, eider ducks, cormorants, and black guillemots. Bald Island was fun to explore with tons of tide pools and bold granite faces. During the quarry era, Bald Island was the source for most of the granite that makes up the Rockland Breakwater, so it has a similar history to Hurricane.

Another big part of this program was rock climbing! Students learned how to safely belay and support each other on the rocks, and we had a chance to climb on a smaller wall and then moved to the main quarry face, which has some challenging and technical climbs! 

Congratulations to the 8th grade class, we hope you enjoy a relaxing summer before your next big adventure in high school! See you back out on Hurricane again soon!

Subscribe in a reader
,

Wildlife Habitat & Population Measurement UVM

,

Post by Science Educator Chloe Tremper

Looking at habitat suitability in the field

Twenty students and two professors from the University of Vermont’s Wildlife Habitat & Population Measurement course spent this past week on Hurricane Island. Professors Allan Strong and Jed Murdoch used Hurricane as a platform to teach field methods for estimating wildlife populations and measuring habitat variables to their students. This course focused on three methods commonly used in the fields of wildlife biology and ecology: mark-recapture, point counts, and habitat suitability index measurements. 

Mark & recapture studies are used to estimate the number of individuals within a species’ population. On Hurricane, the UVM students used this method to estimate the population size of small mammals on the island, as well as determine which species were present.  During their first day on Hurricane, the students broke into four groups and set up grids with 100 traps each on different parts of the island.  The traps were opened early each morning with a sprinkling of oats and some scraps of paper towel placed in each as food and nesting materials.  The traps used were Sherman traps, which are a box-style animal trap designed for live capture of small mammals. When the students checked the traps a few hours later, students recorded whether a trap was open and empty, closed and empty, or closed with a capture inside.  For each individual small mammal that was caught, the students marked a bit of its fur with a marker so that if it was caught again later it could be identified.  As traps were checked, the students were careful to close each so that no animals would be trapped for an extended period of time.

The students also learned how to conduct bird point counts, which are useful for monitoring avian population trends.   Four locations were designated along different trails that students would go to once a day to conduct a count in their smaller groups.  At their first point they did a 30-minute point count.  To do this, the first 10 minutes at the point all birds heard or seen were recorded, the second 10 minutes only new birds that were not noted during the first, and for the third 10 minutes only new birds again were recorded. Over their days there each group did a 30-minute point count at each of the four sites and a few 10-minute point counts at the remaining sites.

On their second to last day on the island, the students went out in the spruce-fir forest of Hurricane to measure multiple habitat variables to determine if the habitat available on Hurricane is suitable for snowshoe hares and downy woodpeckers, neither of which are known to reside on Hurricane.  However, both species habitat preferences were relevant for the purpose of learning how to implement the sampling technique.  Habitat suitability indexes are available for variety species through the USGS National Wetlands Research Center. 

We were sad to see this lively bunch of students leave at the end of the week but enjoyed getting to know them & appreciated the data they provided us!

Students enjoy Sunset Rock

Subscribe in a reader