Even before arriving at their tropical destination, Leelanau’s Winter Term exploratory group found themselves practicing the motto of the host school. 

You see, our Leelanau world travelers missed their connecting flight from Nassau to Eleuthera at the very outset of the trip. Instead of panicking, they treated the airport staff with grace and made the best of it. 

They arrived the next morning at The Island School, where they would be asked to meet daily deliberate challenges –learning the only way to overcome them was to go through them.

Junior Sara House put it beautifully, “You don’t have to have everything figured out beforehand to take that first step in the right direction.  Throughout the whole trip, I kept telling myself that.”

Sophomore Mark Porter also realized this during xer first-time scuba diving. Mark said, “Before getting into the water, I was holding my mask to my face. I was wearing all of this heavy equipment, sitting on the edge of the boat, and then I just sort of flipped myself backwards. There are no words to describe the feeling when I began to descend into the water. I thought this is it. This is what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

And while scuba diving was one of the favorite activities for many of the students, the whole routine of their big adventure was full of daily experiences and challenges. According to junior Sophie Schwartz, the students started their day at 6:00 am, and by 6:45, the group was off catapulting themselves into an energizing activity like bike riding, cliff jumping, snorkeling, and more. She admits, “It felt so nice to wake up and have something accomplished before breakfast.” Sophie and junior Grace Holl liked starting their day off with vigor so much they’ve been waking up early since their return to Michigan.

 According to Joe Blondia, one of three faculty leaders, “One of the highlights of the trip was on our first day in Eleuthera while snorkeling. We spotted a hawksbill turtle, which used to be on the endangered species list.” The Leelanau crew also got to see Caribbean reef sharks, bull sharks, and lemon sharks. Junior Nathaniel Adams favorite part was simply being in the water. He said, “Just looking at all of the reefs and wildlife was my favorite part.”

Sophie loved getting into town and seeing how true Bahamians lived. Learning about their rich culture was an unforgettable experience for them all. Sophie said she’ll never forget that everyone smiled at one another in passing. This is another daily habit she’d love to bring back to her life at Leelanau. 

 One big surprise was how quickly the students grew accustomed to not having their phones with them. Sara said, “Before the trip, I had been looking for an excuse to protect my space, so my time at The Island School gave me that incentive to get that peace. I learned that if you’re doing stimulating things in most aspects of your life, you don’t need your phone. So, when we got back to Leelanau, I decided to leave my phone for the first class when we got back, and I hope to keep doing that.” 

Sara also described a bonfire on the beach on their last night at The Island School. There, they shared their highs, lows (which they found most challenging), and buffaloes …something that totally surprised them. Sara’s buffalo came while dissecting a lionfish, and the fish’s eye juice squirted right into her eye and mouth!

Between boating, cliff jumping, working on a farm, studying crabs from a mangrove creek, community dishes, no phones, and more, Leelanau students met these challenges head-on. They agree that at The Island School, and Leelanau,  The obstacle is the way.