About

The Island School Summer Term is a six-week residential program set on Cape Eleuthera in the Bahamas, designed for rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It is not a camp near the ocean — it is a functioning educational and research community built on the premise that the most consequential learning happens when the environment itself is the classroom. Students live on an off-grid sustainable campus, study marine and terrestrial ecology in the actual ecosystems under investigation, conduct fieldwork alongside scientists at the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI), participate in scuba diving, kayaking, sailing, and wilderness expeditions, and do all of it without cell phones or internet access for the full six weeks.

The academic core of the Summer Term is two courses: Marine Ecology and Human Ecology. Marine Ecology introduces students to marine research methods and ecosystem science through direct fieldwork — students study coral reef ecosystems while scuba diving, survey mangrove creeks, and work directly with CEI scientists whose active research programs span coral reefs, sharks, lobster populations, fish ecophysiology, ocean climate, agroforestry, and food security. Human Ecology examines Bahamian history, tourism, sustainable development, and the human systems that interact with the island's natural environment. Both courses carry a strong field component; the curriculum guide distinguishes sharply between learning about ecology in a classroom and learning ecology in the field. Students also engage daily with the campus's sustainable infrastructure — solar and wind energy systems, rainwater collection, waste management, and aquaponics — as a living applied curriculum rather than a set of demonstrations.

Physical education and outdoor programming run every morning: hour-long workouts on land or in the ocean that serve both as physical conditioning and as community-building. Multi-day expeditions by kayak, sailing, and on foot are integrated throughout the six weeks. The campus runs as a community in which students and faculty share responsibility for its systems and care — an intentional structure that places environmental stewardship as a lived practice rather than a subject of study.

The Summer Term costs $19,100 for 2026, which includes room and board and a round-trip charter flight between Nassau and Eleuthera. International travel to Nassau is not included. Admissions are need-blind — acceptance decisions are made without reference to financial need, and tuition assistance is communicated at the same time as the admissions decision. Approximately one in four students receives tuition assistance each term, with a minimum family contribution of $500 required regardless of award level. Several named merit scholarships offer full tuition for specific populations: the METCO scholarship for students enrolled in Greater Boston METCO programs, the Horizons scholarship for Horizons at Greens Farms Academy students in Bridgeport, the College Track scholarship for Sacramento College Track Scholars, the Veteran scholarship for students with a parent or guardian who has served in any military branch, and the BESS scholarship for Bahamian citizens through a partnership with the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation. The Summer Term application deadline for 2026 was January 15, with decisions released February 13; future cycles follow the same winter timeline with the tuition assistance application opening November 1.

Few other programs place high school students inside a functioning marine research station, in an island ecosystem of genuine ecological significance, for six weeks, without the distraction architecture of digital life, in a community structured around the actual practices of environmental stewardship. The cost is high and the financial aid is real. For a student genuinely drawn to marine science, ecology, sustainability, or place-based education, it is an excellent immersive option.