If you like to think Island kids lead a sheltered life, that the real world for them is an ocean away, get ready to have that myth shattered by the Class of 2001, a group of some 140 teenagers who have both taken charge and taken some hard knocks.

A simple exchange of an "I" for an "O" cost the Vineyard's own Samantha Gillogly the title of National Spelling Bee Champion.

Windemere Suffers Losses

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Operating losses at the Windemere Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center spiraled to $567,000 last year, triggering poor marks from auditors and raising hard new questions about whether the Island's only nursing home can ever escape the destitute financial condition that has plagued it since day one.

Every school graduation is important. But the graduation taking place this Saturday, June 2, from 3 to 7 p.m.

Cruise Lines Sail for Vineyard

By MANDY LOCKE

Destination: Martha's Vineyard. That's the proclamation this season for two new cruise line companies and this speaks to a larger trend for the Vineyard.

Norwegian Cruise Lines will deliver 1,500 to 1,800 passengers to Terry McCarthy's Dockside Marina in Oak Bluffs starting next Friday. This wave of tourists will arrive every Friday through the summer. Oak Bluffs will continue to host Regal Cruise Line throughout the summer as well.

A small circle of senior managers at the Steamship Authority last week quietly filed an application for some $2 million in federal grant money to help launch an $8 million high-speed passenger ferry operation between the Vineyard and New Bedford, the Gazette has learned.