Academic News

The fall 2005 semester is now well underway with the students spending long hours in the classroom, library and most important of all, in the water learning about the local marine ecology and how it is being managed. In addition, they have been introduced to the two main fisheries here in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), spiny lobster and queen conch. The three main courses the students are currently taking: Tropical Marine ecology, environmental policy and socio-economics, and marine resource management will assist them later in the semester to conceptualize, design and then present a proposal for a network of marine protected areas. In addition, we have introduced a new course this semester: British West Indies Culture and Society, which is being taught almost exclusively by local experts. To date we have enjoyed seven guest lectures as part of the course.
Dr. Dave Wilson, Center Director


Student News

The semester has gotten off to a great start.  We have students and staff representing seven different countries all together on South Caicos for three months to learn and research the marine resources surrounding us.  With three weeks under their belt the students have mastered the Latin names of mangrove organisms and coral reef fishes.  They have been busy learning and taking part in Directed Research Demos.  We have opportunities ranging from tagging sharks and finfish stock assessments to studying the effects of the damage that divers and snorkellers have on coral reefs.  We have started up a new Community Outreach project this year, which will take us to the Iris Stubbs Primary School to assist the teachers with lesson preparation.  The SFS students are working with children ages 4-13 on a variety of subjects.  This past week the kindergarten class will be learn the letter “E” and the 4^th graders proved to be pretty good at playing homonym BINGO.   The children are always excited to see us and enjoy pick-up games of monkey-in-the- middle during recess. 
Carrie Simon, Student Affairs Manager


Student Reflections

Being in “fishermen's paradise” on The Big South is truly heaven.  Although most of my free time has been devoted to said paradise I think that other students are having fun at times also. Within the first hours of arriving here it felt as though all of us had known each other for years.  Our classes began very quickly (a test on our first Saturday) and much of our “class” time is underwater. Identifying species in different communities by their Latin name on-site can be a bit trying with pruney fingers.  Recent adventures have included night snorkeling, a power outage, and conch gathering for Sunday night dinner.  We've all had our share of adventures to date and I'm sure that there are many more memorable experiences to come.  Cheers from TCI!
Mike Stracco, Colorado State University 

Don't worry about us, honestly. Our professors are doing their best to keep us from partaking in the relaxed idyllic island lifestyle of the sultry Turks & Caicos Islands. They have us slaving over PowerPoint presentation after PowerPoint presentation, displaying slides of the diverse marine wildlife found in the brilliantly blue waters surrounding our center. We took our marine organism identification exams in the water.  Visiting animals in their seagrass, mangrove and coral reef homes during our waterfront class sessions has taught us more than one-hundred lectures and ten-thousand slides ever could.

This is paradise! Savory fried chicken and fries for only $3! (‘Chicken Bar' is the hot spot on the Big South).  If fried chicken from the Dominican Republic doesn't fit your speedo/bikini diet, then you're probably also missing out on the dangerously extravagant student/staff feasts every Sunday. So far we've stuffed ourselves with gourmet pizza one weekend, then the following Sunday, gorged ourselves on deliciously fresh conch (complements of our resident fishers).
George Padilla, Lewis and Clark College

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