Pam Maxey, Giant Carey, Mark Vanacore, Tricia Vanacore, Chris Maxey cutting the ribbon on the Center for Sustainable Development building.
(May 23, 2014 – Cape Eleuthera, Bahamas) The Center for Sustainable Development (CSD) hosted its official opening at The Island School campus. The CSD joined The Island School, Cape Eleuthera Institute, and Deep Creek Middle School as the fourth branch of the organization to take root. With the mangrove as its logo, the CSD seeks to branch out as the organization’s home for developing green technologies and modeling sustainable systems.
Staff, students, and school supporters gathered to celebrate with an official ribbon cutting ceremony which featured speakers involved in the center’s development. Pam Maxey, co-founder of The Island School, began the event by celebrating the growth of the organization and introduced Corey Broderick, Director of the CSD.
Broderick described the campus, which includes innovative energy, water, food and waste-stream systems, as “the most amazing classroom,” adding that “the CSD allows students and teachers to come together to achieve incredible things.” Broderick ended with a call to action: “this building is only the first step and now it is time to get to work.”
Contractor John Norris “Giant” Carey of Tarpum Bay, took the stage and celebrated the building’s construction. The CSD building became his most recent accomplishment in fifteen years of construction at the campus. Carey applauded the organization for being a leader in energy research in The Bahamas, stating “although we are the smallest island, we are at the top of the world when it comes to energy research.” He spoke proudly and noted the CSD’s potential to provide physical space for the organizations expanding demands for sustainable design, research, education, and partnerships.
The grand opening was held during Island School Parents’ Weekend. In attendance were major financial contributors to the building, Tricia and Mark Vanacore. As, three-time Island School parents, The Vanacores told the crowd of supporters that they wanted to give back to an organization that had given so much to their family. Tricia Vanacore, who also sits on the Cape Eleuthera Foundation Board of Directors, attributed her excitement for the CSD to its pioneering vision as first of its kind in The Bahamas. “This building is more than just a recycling center. It is helping us teach the way we live and live the way we teach. It is a plan for the future.”
