PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
TIME CAPSULE LETTER
Dear future leaders,
Greetings from this past summer! I’m eager to share a snapshot of your lives from this past summer today and hopefully check in with you all and offer some thoughts and hopes for you in the future. This amazing summer was filled with adventure, friendship, and fun. I hope this letter brings back fond memories and maybe even a smile.
Every day at GLA during our 10 days was packed with activities. In the mornings, we started with a chow circle and our Leaders of the Day came up with some cool way to sit and get to know each other. We always had a hearty breakfast at the round tables, which of course included everybody’s favorite, RICE and BEANS. You all did so many cool activities and saw so many new things. We played with monkeys on the beach, we ziplined through the forest and the best part, created a better school situation for so many young students who will always remember the improvements you made on their school. Some of us probably still can’t get the yellow paint off our legs! But the sacrifice was worth it when the kids walked to the playground for the first time and saw the beautiful mural that you all created.
There were so many wonderful friendships and memorable moments created in our short time together. Who remembers embracing the Costa Rican culture by salsa dancing together, trying to talk down the vendors in the market from $13 to $10 and of course, the CRAZY water slides at the Baldi Hot Springs. Everyone shared so many laughs and late-night stories with the hope we will stay in touch after GLA ends. One of the most memorable moments from this summer was the bus rides! People singing, dj’ing, and dancing made all of our long trips the best. We also had a lot of fun just before bed checks, hanging out upstairs, listening to Jason rap songs to perfection.
GLA taught many of you a lot about yourself and others. You all learned the importance of teamwork, trying new things, and being independent. One of the biggest lessons was how to handle tough situations, figure out a plan and problem solve it. Many of you surely carried these lessons with you back home. My hope is that when you read this letter again, you will have continued to be adventurous and open-minded. I hope you’ve stayed in touch with the friends you made here and that there are many more exciting experiences to come. Maybe you will see a friend back at GLA one day!
Questions for Future Me
1. Do you still keep in touch with your GLA friends?
2. Have you made any progress on our One Meaningful Goal that we set our last night together?
3. Are you volunteering or helping out your community in any way?
3. What new adventures have you embarked on since GLA?
Remember our Group’s OMG – “One Meaningful Goal” – that we created at the end of the session? We pledged to become volunteers in our community, help out as many people as we can in our free time and to encourage our friends to do the same? How is that going?! Have there been any changes in your home or even community? This summer was an incredible journey, and I’m so grateful for all the experiences and all of you.I hope this letter reminds you of the wonderful times and the amazing people you met here. Remember to always embrace the spirit of adventure that GLA has taught you.
See you in the future and don’t forget to Be the Change. Thank you for the memories,
Andrew Ireland – International Director
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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 23
¡Bienvenidos!
Today, some students woke up early to catch flights to beautiful Costa Rica! Although the unaccompanied minors line was extremely long, we were able to pass through TSA and finally meet our GLA Mentors!
From there, we took vans to our hotel. At the hotel, we ate spaghetti and beef for lunch, with a watermelon drink, garlic bread, and ice cream. During lunch, we played an ice breaker game and were able to learn the names and cool facts about other campers.
We then explored the hotel area, found our rooms, and unpacked. Some of us played volleyball, some of us rested and a couple others took a swim test so we could hang out in the pool. Annabel had a surprise when she went in her room! It was her birthday yesterday, so she had a birthday sign and piece of cake, that she shared with everyone.
Before dinner, we played a game in which campers and mentors had to line up by favorite animal, in alphabetical order, without talking. Using this line, we determined where to sit for dinner so that we could get to know everyone a little bit better.
For dinner, we had rice, beans, and chicken, with mango juice or iced tea, salad, and a chocolate wafer. After dinner, we waited for the other campers that had later flights and one of the mentors Elise started a card game with us.
At the time of writing the blog, we are still waiting for 3 of our group members to arrive late tonight, but we are excited to meet them in the morning.
(Autumn, Ameer and Lorris had not arrived yet at the time the photos were taken.)
-Jon and Duncan
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 24
Today’s experiences at GLA encompassed numerous exhilarating, fun, and somewhat challenging tasks. Some of these include but are not limited to: helping out a local school, doing many fun activities with friends like soccer, swimming, and more. We also met our last 3 fellow group members that got in late.
To delve further, we woke up earlier than most usually would, for breakfast. Then, we were orientated to our home base and created a charter of words basically encapsulating that we all must respect one another.
We ate a delicious lunch and headed over to the school to begin our service work. We also had the chance to meet a couple of the kids from the school and that was cool.
Some of our projects included painting grates, scraping chipped paint, using putty to fill holes, and even started a new mural. Then we relaxed and rested throughout the remainder of the afternoon, ate dinner and the split up into our mentor groups.
In our mentor groups, we went over goals we had for the trip and reflected on our current selves and how we wanted the trip to affect us. All in all, the day was packed with fun and new experiences and stands as both an action-packed and plentiful day. Hopefully this is a model for how the rest of the trip will play out.
– Group Leaders Dean and Austin
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 27
Today we got up and had pancakes, eggs, and rice and beans. Then we worked doing our best to finish up our service projects. One of the projects was painting a beautiful mural and we made a lot of progress with many details. We are almost done!
We came back and had lunch and free time. Some of us got in the pool, some played volleyball/soccer and others just rested.
Then we went to the market and got some fruits. There were so many fruits to try like cas, fresh mangos, and we even bought some dragon fruit.
Our last adventure for the day was going to La Tortilleria and tried different types of tortillas. Tortillas filled with different meats, cheeses and potatoes. Jose also taught us about Costa Rican culture. We came back just in time for dinner and finished the night with a group trivia game as part of our mentor groups.
Group Leaders: Autumn and Lorris
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 28
Today we started our day off with an amazing breakfast of pancakes, hash browns and gallo pinto.
After we were finished we headed to our service project school to have a fun party with the students to celebrate the last day of school before holiday break. We played soccer, helped serve the students treats and got to spend quality time with the staff.
After we then had some pool time, got to eat ice cream and go to a Spanish bakery. A little bit later we went to the market so that everybody could take a look at souvenirs for friends and family. We all bought things like fresh fruits, bandanas, clothes and empanadas!
To end the day we had a nice dinner followed by mentor groups where we had to build a tower out of spaghetti and tape. We also did a values exercise where we picked 5 values that were most important to us. We are all excited for the chocolate tour and hot springs tomorrow.
– Braden and Nathan
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 29
We started the day by eating breakfast and the we headed to La Fortuna to go on our chocolate tour at one of Costa Rica’s cacao plantations. Here we learned the history of cacao and the art of making Central Americas award winning chocolate.
After tasting the chocolate, we went back into the bus for a ride to the Baldi hot springs with a quick stop for souvenirs. There, we had a buffet for lunch and swam in the springs. There were hot springs, cold pool, and even some water slides. It was a nice day of relaxing and drinking fruit smoothies.
We finished the night with a late pizza dinner.
Amelia and Shaylee
BLOG POST FOR JULY 1
¡Adios!
Today was our last full day together and it was so much fun. We started by heading to the Poas Volcano, where did a small hike and tour of the volcano. It was really high up so for the first time this trip it was cold!!!
We stopped at a really cool souvenir shop for the last time so that we could get a couple more things for friends and family back home.
When we got back to the hotel we had free time to pack and visit. Then we went to our last service day to finish up all of the projects we started for the school. It was so great to see the finished product and the mural was amazing.
When we got back, we got all dressed up for our final dinner together. It was nice to visit and talk one last time. After dinner we did a circle where we told everyone how much we appreciated them. We all stayed around and talked and played games and shared stories and listened to music, it was a nice ending to our epic summer adventure.
