Meet the Students!

Academic News

The academic program is well underway now, and the students have been exposed to a wealth of information and experiences. As part of the Marine Ecology syllabus, they have visited and learned about mangroves and seagrasses and had their first in-water test on the organisms that inhabit these valuable ecosystems. The program has subsequently shifted to the biology and management of the two major fisheries in the Turks & Caicos – queen conch and lobster, including a conch dissection lab and a visit to a local lobster processing plant. This aspect of the course culminated in an intensive three day field exercise assessing the abundance and sizes of conch in the marine reserve right off the Center's doorstep. This was achieved using underwater visual surveys in order to assess the effectiveness of conch management practices off South Caicos as part of the Marine Resource Management course.

The students are becoming better integrated into the local community, who are welcoming and friendly. In the past couple of weeks, as part of the Culture Course, we had visiting talks from a local Pastor and the deputy principle from a college on Provo, who discussed the government, the role of the Queen, the education system, and the role of women in the Turks and Caicos. We also had a guest lecture on pre-Columbian history, at the end of which everyone went to nearby Middleton Cay and investigated an ancient Lucayan site and conch shells that had been dated from 800AD, which was a fantastic way to envisage the history of the islands. Dr. Steve Newman, Center Director

Student News

The past two weeks we've been able to get out and see some interesting things. We had the opportunity to tour a local processing plant. It's currently lobster season and the women were busy preparing the lobster for export to the U.S. Everyone spent an afternoon viewing one of the three tourist developments currently under construction on South. Each group gave a presentation on their findings and discussed questions that arose from the trip. This allowed all the students to at least get a virtual tour of all the sites. Next week we all head back to the developments for guided tours of the sites. All those burning questions may finally get their answers. On Saturday 20 students continued the cleanup of the islands' beaches. It is truly unbelievable how much trash washes up from faraway lands. Some students headed off to the Disabled Center and were treated to Wilfred drumming some rhythms on an old bucket. A group of students dedicated quite a few hours to preparing a skit for the Youth Day celebration at the Regatta Village. They all did a fantastic job. The event was filled with laughter, dancing, and good times. Kara Gober, Student Affairs Manager

Student Reflections

During my time here at the Center for Marine Resource Studies on South Caicos, I've said to myself, at least once a day: “I can't believe this is school.” We are in the water everyday: diving, working on research projects, identifying all kinds of aquatic creatures, and just cooling off. After three weeks together, the group is gearing up for some challenging schoolwork. We've begun our first field exercise, assessing the status of queen conch (Strombus gigas) inside and outside a Marine Protected Area nearby the center. This entailed learning the scientific techniques known as belt and line transects, and free diving countless times to catch and measure various parts of conch. Luckily, the little guys aren't very fast. We're also settling into the island life. This past Friday, we were welcomed to the “Youthquake, Shake Off Violence,” island event. We watched amazing break dancers of all ages, sang along with some talented singers, and laughed at the ice cream eating contest. The long awaited performance of our skit finally took place. We even had a student from SFS step up to the mic in the rap contest. The highlight of my experience on South Caicos so far definitely was the latest SCUBA dive to a 6000 foot wall. I finally saw the big shark I'd been hoping to see, and also a sting ray that was bigger than me, (don't worry, we steered clear of it). The only way this experience could be any better is if I suddenly developed immunity to mosquito bites. Jessica Rohde, Colorado College

As the weeks progress our time playing beach volleyball, night snorkeling, and watching sunsets on the conch wall are all diminishing as the work on fish IDs and conch assessments increases. The relaxed introductory weeks to the community, classes, and marine life are giving way to the intensity of core work. Despite the ever increasing workload we are still able to enjoy our time here. The divers were able to participate in our first wall dive and hovered over a 6000 foot drop off. After a long morning of lectures we piled into the boat and took just a five minute boat ride to a dive site. The dive leaders briefed us on our site. We put on our tanks and descended several feet to avoid fighting the waves. We waited on the mooring line for everyone to be ready before we dropped to 55 feet. Slowly I followed the dive leader as she led us along the wall and then through dense coral beds. Stingrays, sharks, and barracudas swam leisurely by us as we toured our way towards the boat. The dive leader signaled that it was time to ascend and we slowly rose to the surface. We fought the waves as we loaded ourselves and gear on to the boat. On our way back to the dock we discussed how wonderful it is that a 6000 foot wall sits just beyond the Center's doorstep. Hillary Hook, University of Alaska, Anchorage

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