The Island School, a long-time Recover Brands partner, is an immersive experiential education school located in Cape Eleuthera, The Bahamas. With the goal of empowering young people while focusing on conservation and sustainability, The Island School’s philosophy is guided by the question: “How do we live well in a place?”
Founded in 1998 by Chris Maxey and his wife, Pam, The Island School began with a mission centered on marine conservation, sustainable solutions, and opportunities for the local community. Since welcoming its first group of students in 1999, The Island School has grown into an immersive educational campus, which includes the Cape Eleuthera Institute, Elementary Learning Center, and Deep Creek Middle School.
The Island School’s hands-on approach uses its surrounding environment as a classroom, and students engage in learning experiences that range from scuba-based Marine Ecology to sustainable aquaculture to local community outreach with younger Bahamian students. By providing this experiential learning environment, the Island School aims to teach students how to develop sustainable solutions to real-world problems.
Almost 15 years ago, a group of students took this approach and focused it not just on their curriculum, but on their uniforms as well. Looking for a more sustainable alternative, the students discovered Recover and helped to spark a partnership rooted in a shared commitment to sustainability and reducing waste. Since 2012, Recover has provided The Island School with sustainable school uniforms and athletic apparel, turning their everyday wear into another opportunity to practice sustainability.
Some of the other sustainable practices employed by The Island School include various efforts to conserve resources and generate renewable resources.
The campus works to limit water use by challenging members to use less than 15 gallons of water a day and also using cisterns for rainwater collection, while pigs and chickens help to recycle any food waste from the campus dining hall. For energy, The Island School currently generates 50% of the power needed for campus facilities using solar panels.
The school also takes on larger environmental challenges through innovative systems such as its queen conch conservancy, which aims to protect and restore queen conch populations in South Eleuthera and highlight the importance of this animal to the history, cuisine, economy, and culture of The Bahamas.
This year, Recover is excited to expand our partnership with The Island School by donating sustainable uniforms to the local Deep Creek Middle School. The Deep Creek Middle School combines traditional academics with outdoor exploration, leadership development, Bahamian culture, community involvement, and hands-on learning, also giving local students opportunities to learn inside and outside the classroom. Working within the Island School community, DCMS students study the environment, in the environment, fostering a deep connection to the natural world and inspiring curiosity.
By creating the school’s apparel since 2012 and the new middle school uniforms, Recover and The Island School have been able to save:
- 283,752 plastic bottles diverted from the landfill
- 367,636 KWH of fossil fuel-based energy saved
- 151,453 lbs of greenhouse gas emissions saved
- 79,972,250 gallons of water saved
The partnership between Recover and the Island School reflects how we are able to support organizations of all types and sizes with responsibly made apparel, while continuing to draw inspiration from partners doing meaningful work to build a more sustainable future.
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