Time Capsule Letter

Hey, Session 5 of Beachside Service Adventure!

It seems like just yesterday we were watching those gorgeous Junquillal sunsets together, chanting “Leader of the Day,” getting smoothies and nachos from the hotel bar and embarrassing ourselves to eat dinner first. The Beachside staff miss y’all so much! We hope that your summer in Costa Rica had a lasting impact on the ways you think about the world and your role in it. We hope you’ve continued to think about how to be responsible travelers, about the impact humans have on our beautiful planet, and you’ve shared those lessons with others!

Here’s a reminder of the goals you made with your mentor group on one of the last nights:

AVELLANAS: Our group OMG is to own our uniqueness, practice radical self-love, and be proud of who we are. By practicing this every day, we know that claiming our own skin, we help others to do the same. We have the ability to make the world better by working on accepting ourselves and working on accepting others. Each day is an opportunity to choose confidence over insecurity, to let go of what others might think, and live boldly as the person we are meant to be.

ROW: To walk with love and leave the world more beautiful than we found it. Specifics are on the board.

MARBELLA:

M – make eco-bricks @ home
A – always recycle
R – remember to be thankful
B – beware of your actions
E- execute your plan and ideas
L – love more
L – live your values
A – always take advantage of every opportunity

JUNQUILLAL SCHOOL: Start/Join a club at school about language, adventure, service, or the environment within the first three months of the semester.

And here are some of our favorite moments from this session:

“Orientation Stations” race when no one knew each other yet.

The first lunch with mentor groups, then Bucket of Dreams!

Tubing down the river

Hot Springs and muddy paint brushes

The traditional dance class that ended in an epic dance-off

The first beach day with epic waves.

The empanada making competitions

Sunbathing and then snorkeling with our noodles off the side of the catamaran (plus a little nausea)

The gorgeous Junquillal sunsets

Zumba mornings

Nico’s birthday (aka. Cops & Robbers, Dancing, and Karaoke)

Sweet Caroline!! (BUM BUM BUM)

Playing Assassin and never trusting when someone handed up something

The pool party on the last night with the ultimate Casado sing-off.

Marbella w/ Blergio

. Remember making dream catchers & giving them away to the little kids.
. Remember when no one believed Charlie was 14?
. Remember when we went swimming, and everyone got pushed in the pool?

. Remember when Jenna & Ari & Charlie picked up cow poop on accident.
. Remember when you taught high school students how to make eco-bricks.

ROW w/ Cassie

. Remember when Juanca showed us an armadillo at ROW, and we snuck up to him to watch him in the trees?
. Remember our Spiritual ceremony with Albertino when we asked the earth to plant trees after learning about the sun and our ancestors and all the energy of the universe?
. We planted 93 trees!! Thank you all for working so hard and not even complaining when we arrived 45 minutes late to lunch.
. How can you forget Rachel, the ninja in jungle speed (and life)?
. Remember Chloe’s amazing drawings, never matching ankle socks, and funny one-liners?
. Thank you to Anna and Thomas for our never-ending movie list of phenomenal recommendations!
. Remember our last mentor group when had a sushi hug and arrived late to the pool party so we could sit on the patio for 15 extra minutes just to be juntitos for one last mentor group?
. Remember (playing tag and then) making mudballs using fermented molasses with the students at school, and now we’ll never forget the phrase “no huele bien.”
. Remember playing fútbol with the kids after teaching them the water cycle, and they learned all your names to pass the ball?

Avellanas w/ Drake

. Remember playing soccer with Frank, Cindy, Jeremy, and some other locals?
. Remember when Cindy carried half of our group through a stream on her back?
. Remember getting a delicious smoothie from Frank after picking up trash?
. Remember swimming in the somewhat calm ocean during service and playing volleyball?
. Remember how much trash we collectively picked up from the beach and what an impact we made to the community?

Junquillal School w/ Abi & Richyth

. No one believing Irene had a deer as a pet
. Heide telling us how she met Beyonce and Jay-Z
. Letting the children paint on the surfboards
. Putting all of our hand marks on the wall

. Richyth & Abi breaking the rules to give everyone a shout out in chow circle.

. Actually completing our service project!!

. Playing soccer and dodgeball with the kids

Thanks for all the incredible memories! Keep exploring and asking questions – we are excited to see all the things you do in the future!

Much love,

Abi, Blake, Cassie, Daya, Drake, Michael, Richyth, & Sergio

 

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Sunday August 4, 2019

Pura Vida, Family & Loved Ones!

All students arrived Saturday to our gorgeous home base in Junquillal, Costa Rica. We are so excited to have our fifth session of the summer here and settled! We have thirty students here this time, which feels like the perfect amount. Everyone is bonding faster than usual and the whispers among staff have been full of “what a fun group!”

Yesterday was Orientation Day and we kicked it off with a welcome circle including some quick Spanish learning, an active game, and a mindful moment. Then we announced our four service projects; students will be working with local organizations cleaning up beaches, planting trees, restoring the watershed, painting schools, and beautifying the community.

Every student successfully completed the orientation photo scavenger hunt learning about environmental risks, inventing the perfect disciplinary policy, hysterically acting out “code of conduct” skits, and learning about Costa Rican culture and how to be respectful travelers. All students also met their service/mentor groups today and started to discover the leadership curriculum focused on GLA’s leadership pillars.

We talked in our newly formed “mentor groups” about what leadership means to us and when we have been leaders. Then the “Bucket of Dreams” activity was a very fun (and often frustrating) way to actively learn about teamwork, support, and the different styles of leadership. While students wrote in their journals, mentors completed the health checks with each student to make sure everyone is happy, healthy and enjoying themselves.

After a review of safety procedures, we took a walk to the beach to watch the beautiful sunset! We had our first “Chow Circle” where the leaders of the day introduced tomorrow’s Leadership Pillar, “Live Your Values”. We ate dinner in our new friend groups and had free time to relax, walked around the hotel, and played games. In the evening, mentor groups met up for a talk about what we value personally and as a group. We put those values to the test and came up with our own community contracts that we’ll abide by for the next 10 days.

It was a very long day, but everyone’s excited to meet their local community organizations and start service-learning tomorrow!

Your BSA Team,

Michael, Daya, Abi, Blake, Cassie, Drake, Richyth, & Sergio

Monday August 5, 2019

¡Pura vida desde Costa Rica!

The leadership pillar for today was “Living Your Values”. The challenge that the leaders of the day came up with was to think of an object that represented things that you valued. An example of what someone said was that they value empathy, so their object was their shoes and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes can cause you to understand what they’re going through.

Before service, those who wanted to wake up early enough did yoga. Once we went to our service sites, the groups did the following:

-Marbella picked up a lot of trash on the streets and walked 3.2 miles.

-ROW planted trees. They also learned about the watershed and about Costa Rican culture and biodiversity.

-Avellanas walked through the road, went to a beach to pick up trash, and played a game of soccer with some local people.

-The group that went to the Junquillal School taped the walls to prepare them to be painted and began to paint. We also started to prepare our designs for the surf boards that will be used as signs.

After lunch we went to the beach called Playa Negra where the waves were huge but super fun.

After the beach, we had a guest speaker named Silvia come to our resort. She lives in the town and did a presentation on the culture, environment, and geography of Costa Rica. After that we got into our Casado groups (teams that we do challenges in), and played Jeopardy based off of the information that Silvia told us.

After dinner, in our mentor groups, we looked at pictures that previous GLA students posted on Instagram and discussed whether or not they were responsible in the way that they presented the communities we visit. We learned how to responsibly use social media when going traveling or volunteering.

Today’s Leaders of the Day,
Heidi, Sonia, Michael, Kennedy

Blog post by: Heidi Bucking

Tuesday August 6, 2019

Yesterday’s pillar was courage! The challenge was based on getting out of your comfort zone by making the effort to engage into a conversation with someone you hadn’t talked to yet. This would enable us to get to know each other even better. Many of us learned interesting facts about our friends, for example, Sonia wants to work at the FBI! How cool is that?

We spent the morning zip lining. Some of us conquered our fear for heights. What a day to be courageous!! It was a great experience for all of us, so.much.fun. Free time was spent in the pool. (Except for me, a Nap was well deserved and totally worth it). Service was done in the afternoon, although much more tiring than usual, our spirits were raised and our motivation present.

In the evening, we watched the famous Ted Talk by Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie, “Danger of a Single Story”. Afterwards, in smaller mentor groups, we discussed the lessons we took away and how we’ll be sure to share “multiple stories” about our time in Costa Rica, avoiding stereotypes and “single stories”.

In my humble opinion, yesterday was one of the best days so far… yet, it’s for sure better days are to come.

– by Irene

Wednesday August 7, 2019

Today in service the Junquillal School continued painting the school. We played games during breaks. We also got to play soccer with the school kids. It was a lot of fun to be able to get work done, and rewarding to get to play after.

The Avellanas group went to the beaches and picked up more trash. We looked for an abundance of different types of trash and recyclables. Afterwards, Frank, a local who they have been working with picking up trash with bought us really good smoothies.

Marbella went to a high school and taught kids how to make eco-bricks. We practiced our Spanish by introducing ourselves in Spanish to the school. We laughed together while still getting work done. After the high school, the group went to a local beach near the high school.

At ROW today, we went to a local public school to teach the kids how to make mud balls, that we will throw into a river on Saturday. We practiced our Spanish by taking turns explaining how to mix the ingredients and form the mud balls. We also played a game of tag with the kids to get to know each other for our events on Saturday!

After service and lunch, we went to a Indigenous Pottery Museum. At the museum we played a game where we split into two groups. Each group learned about one side of the museum and had to explain it to the other group. Then we roamed the shop and bought some beautiful handmade pottery. Then we made our own pottery class. Our teacher was a local that made some if the pottery in the shop. He showed how to mix the clay by stepping on it and mix it with our feet! He also showed us the different colored paints used, which are red, white and black. We then made our own pots, and took them back to home-base to dry.

In the evening, in our mentor groups, we had a debate about a real controversial issue not far from here, regarding a hotel conglomerate destroying important mangroves and turtle nesting beaches. There were four sides: the hotel, the local people, the local government and the Costa Rica Ministry of the Environment. Afterwards, we had a discussion about this particular issue, but also about how to resolve conflict with people/groups with differing belief systems– one of the marks of a true leader.

Thursday August 8, 2019

On Thursday, we did a full adventure day. We got on the bus at 7:00, and drove two hours to our destination. Some slept, some kept others from sleeping, and others stared out the window for two hours. Our first activity was tubing. We went flying down the river, sometimes getting stuck on rocks, or being the rock that someone else got stuck behind. Some of us just relaxed and floated down the rapids, some of us came to win.

As people lightly floated to the impending rapids to break there rest, the racers kicked off of walls, hopped out of the tubes and pushed. The winner was Cade Christensen. After tubing we drove to the hot springs. We walked down bridges and pathways to the springs, where the biggest aahhs were made. We covered ourselves in mud, and washed ourselves in a river.

At the hot springs, we got in and relaxed. A lady we had never met tried to push someone in, but with no success, resulted in just splashing. Confusion is for sure, a weapon.

We drove back, and some managed to get a few winks of sleep. But the day was not over. It had only just begun.

It was Nico’s birthday, and we threw him a banger. We started the party with a game of cops and robbers. Kids ran to and fro, mostly from Big Mike and Big Tom. Some sneaked into the safe zone. Some fought there way to it. Those of us who made it treated ourselves to some chips and soda. After two rounds of cops and robbers, the dancing started. Many line dances were done, including Cotten Eye Joe and the Cupid Shuffle.

After Sergio led a Spanish dance on his own, the karaoke started. Cade started us off with a beautiful solo with Come And Get Your Love. Then everyone sang together, some great songs such as You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful, Party In The USA, Don’t Stop Believing, and others hits. We ended the night with lifting Nico up for a pictures, and running as fast as humanly possible to get first shower.

-by Cade Christensen

Friday August 9, 2019

Hello parents, friends and family!

Today we started off the day with morning yoga and a breakfast of pancakes and Gallo pinto.
At service with ROW, Restore Our Watershed, we planted nearly 100 trees after learning about indigenous cultures through ceremony and spiritually.

In Junquillal School we painted the inside of the school and worked on the surfboard signs for the school.
At Marbella we taught local children how to make Eco bricks and played soccer. In Avellanas, we picked up trash along the beach and some of us collaborated to paint the Junquillal school.

After lunch and free time, we went to play traditional Costa Rican games, play soccer with locals, and cook empanadas and tortillas with two local women. We ended the day with a sunset (as usual) and a minor power outage. It was actually a fun adventure to play cards in the dark and bond with roommates.

– Nicky

Time Capsule Letter

Hey, Session 4 of Beachside Service Adventure!

It seems like just yesterday we were watching those gorgeous Junquillal sunsets together, chanting “Leader of the Day,” getting smoothies and nachos from the hotel bar and embarrassing ourselves to eat dinner first.

The Beachside staff miss y’all so much! We hope that your summer in Costa Rica had a lasting impact on the ways you think about the world and your role in it. We hope you’ve continued to think about how to be responsible travelers, about the impact humans have on our beautiful planet, and you’ve shared those lessons with others!

Here’s a reminder of the goals you made with your mentor group on one of the last nights:

Paraiso School: Every month, try a new activity that takes you out of your comfort zone.

Avellanas: Our mentor group’s OMG was to remember the ripple effect and that in every moment our every action has an effect. We can use this knowledge to consciously make positive decisions, from treating people well to being aware of what we’re doing with our trash. What we do affects people all over the world, and we want to live our lives as best as possible so that we can be beneficial influences on everyone and everything around us.

ROW: Repurpose five items in a meaningful way!

Clara Vista: Our One Meaningful Goal is a tree inside a heart representing life, connections (roots), and love. As a team, we have learned and want to bring back home the message of love well explained in Sergio’s tattoo: Ama y haz lo que quieras. We will accomplish this message of love through connecting with nature as Tico people do, with people taking the initiative to start relationships and reflecting about everything we do in life to learn, discover and explore while living this beautiful life!

Marbella with Blake: Volunteer 6 hours a month, eco-friendly minimalist, phones down more often, follow through with what YOU want to do

Marbella w/ Nora: To be more environmentally conscious by being more aware of our own trash habits, and recycling habits. We also have as a goal to be more aware of others and to not assign anyone a single story.

VerdiAzul: To be more environmentally conscious. Each student wrote something specific to them- shorter showers, turn off the lights, bring a to-go cup when they buy coffee, pick up trash when they see it, etc.

And here are some of our favorite moments from this session:

“Orientation Stations” race when no one knew each other yet.

The first lunch with mentor groups, then Bucket of Dreams!

Tubing down the river

Hot Springs and muddy paint brushes

The traditional dance class that ended in an epic dance-off

Playing soccer against the local team on Guanacaste Day and WINNING!

The first beach day with epic waves.

The empanada making competitions

The Mentor 7-Minute Speed Meetings

Snorkeling with our noodles, off the side of the catamaran

The gorgeous Junquillal sunsets

Doing cups before dinner for the camera

Boys in the small van on the way back from tubing on their way to rap fame-dom

How fun it was to play cops and robbers at the Homebase

The last day of service when our face paint turned into sunburn tattoos

Swimming in the perfectly calm ocean of Tamarindo, watching the larger group of guys splash each other like crazy people and the two different crowded groups throwing people into the air

Standing in a line as baby turtles made their way into the most picturesque ocean surrounded by a gorgeous sunset

Seeing turtles, an octopus, and dolphins on the catamaran. And jumping off the boat and snorkeling in the beautiful ocean.

The song competition during the pool party on the last night.

Marbella w/ Nora

-Remember when we had to rifle through the trash well, and we all got bit by ants?
-Remember when we got to eat from the German bakery at the beach?
-Remember when we won the singing war on the bus?
-Remember when we had a dance party in Avery and Andi’s room?
-Remember when Keo just wanted to be a bear in mafia all the time?

VerdiAzul w/ Cassie

-Burying Damyon (the pineapple) and Lindsay (mermaid) in the sand after shoveling and working in the turtle hatchery for hours
-Watching baby turtles crawl their way down the beach to grow in the ocean after learning that Verdiazul doubles the number of turtles that make it to the ocean
-Going hiking with Lauren to the most beautiful secret swimming hole.
-Listening to Voss’ awesome music at the composting area
-Anyone remember Lauren (mentor) getting pooped and peed on by a massive iguana at the compost? She’s still trying to forget.
-Remember how none of you could learn the game convergence until Alex and Daymon magically coincided with the word “pineapple.”
-Remember when DJ practiced Spanish at a stranger’s house down the road from the recycling center on the first day of service?
-Pan (also called Carlos the dog) following us to service and playing in the compost and on the beach with us
-Julienne (amazing!) memorizing her cap throwing speech to teach the kids how to play her game at the obstacle course

ROW w/ Kelly and Bianca

– Remember when we discovered Henry speaks Spanish after he quietly let us struggle to translate the first few days??
– Please don’t ever forget your amazing water cycle skit. You’re all bound to be famous actors.
– Don’t forget to bring your refillable “flask” to Starbucks
– Remember chucking “broken” mud balls into the river?
– Remember playing tips, or was it called taps?

Avellanas w/ Drake

-Remember claiming our spot by the ice machine and all the special memories we had in mentor group, followed by the occasional poison dart frog?
-Remember hot beach walks picking up trash, with refreshing drinks and games waiting for us afterward?
-Remember playing volleyball at Playa Negra, and watching Frank get pwned over and over again by Lauren’s mean serve?
-Remember sitting on the beach at night, looking at the stars and reflecting on how inspired we are by the mentors, each other, and this experience?
-Remember that final, glorious sushi hug when we squished Jesse in the middle with all of our group love?

Clara Vista w/ Sergio

-Remember when we went to this beautiful huge house up in the mountain to swim after service in a wonderful infinity pool?
-Remember our “special hugs” after mentor groups to end up the day in the best way possible?
-Remember how we discovered magic lifting people up after storing energy as a group?
-Remember how we played soccer, musical chairs and more games with kids from Venado community? Remember how we bond with them? Emerson, Samuel, Anthony- remember how good it felt when they remember our names and they were coming every day to play and share with us?
-Remember our cool and funny group high 5?
-Remember kissing the trees after planting them?
-Remember when we saw the parrot, and it stood in Ian’s shoulder?
-Remember singing on the bus with Nora’s and Blake’s group on the way back from service?

Paraiso w/ Dana

– Remember hearing the howler monkeys in the trees above us at service?
– Remember running around the schoolyard and playing with the students, and how happy they always were to see you?
– Remember when you were all in charge of your own kindergarten student(s), and you taught them how to plant seeds and water their school garden?
– Remember playing and dancing with the kindergarten students in their classroom on our last day at the school?
– Remember when the teachers cooked us chicken and corn soup, and that sweet dark corn drink that was so refreshing?

Marbella w/ Blake

-Remember when we sifted through wet trash and recyclables?
-Remember when we all had the best sing-along in the van coming back from service.
-Remember how Max is the best DJ
-Remember how we went swimming in the ocean the last day?
-Remember the friendship bracelets and web we made.

Thanks for all the incredible memories! Keep exploring and asking questions – we are excited to see all the things you do in the future!

Much love,

Bianca, Blake, Cassie, Dana, Daya, Drake, Kelly, Lauren, Michael, Nora, & Sergio

 

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Tuesday July 23, 2019

Pura Vida, Family & Loved Ones!

Our final students arrived late last night at our gorgeous home base in Junquillal, Costa Rica. We are so excited to have our largest session of the summer here and settled! With 58 students (and 11 staff), the energy is incredible. We can already tell that this will be a very special session.

Today was Orientation Day and we kicked it off with a welcome circle including some quick Spanish learning, an active game, and a mindful moment. Then we announced our seven service projects; students will be working with local organizations cleaning up beaches, planting trees, restoring the watershed, painting schools, and beautifying the community.

Every student successfully completed the orientation photo scavenger hunt learning about environmental risks, inventing the perfect disciplinary policy, hysterically acting out “code of conduct” skits, and learning about Costa Rican culture and how to be respectful travelers. All students also met their service/mentor groups today and started to discover the leadership curriculum focused on GLA’s leadership pillars.

We talked in our newly formed “mentor groups” about what leadership means to us and when we have been leaders. Then the “Bucket of Dreams” activity was a very fun (and often frustrating) way to actively learn about teamwork, support, and the different styles of leadership. While students wrote in their journals, mentors completed the health checks with each student to make sure everyone is happy, healthy, and enjoying themselves.

After a review of safety procedures, we took a walk to the beach to watch the beautiful sunset! We had our first “Chow Circle” where the leaders of the day introduced tomorrow’s Leadership Pillar, “Live Your Values”. We ate dinner in our new friend groups and had free time to relax, walk around the hotel, and play games. In the evening, mentor groups met up for a talk about what we value personally and as a group. We put those values to the test and came up with our own community contracts that we’ll abide by for the next 10 days.

It has been a very long day, but we are so excited to meet our local community organizations and start service learning tomorrow!

Your BSA Team,

Michael, Daya, Bianca, Blake, Cassie, Dana, Drake, Kelly, Lauren, Nora, & Sergio

Wednesday July 24, 2019

Hi Parents!

The first couple days of our trip have been a blast! Day 1 was a long travel day for everyone, but we made it safely to the Ecoresort and had tons of fun exploring and playing get-to-know-you games. Everyone was exhausted and most were fast asleep by 9 pm (except for the group that got in at midnight!) We kicked off day 2 with breakfast at 7, and then got into competition groups for a fun scavenger hunt around the resort. After that, we broke up into our mentor groups- the groups we’ll be doing service work and leadership discussions with all week. Both days we watched a beautiful sunset from the beach, which we’ll be doing every evening of the program!

Today (day 3) was our first day of service! Each group hopped on a bus and headed to their site to meet up with the organization coordinators and begin working. The Clara Vista group went on a walk with a bunch of local kids to pick up trash alongside roads throughout their community, and then built and decorated hanging gardens made of plastic bottles.

Another group headed to Paraiso School, where they painted murals on the outside walls, dug holes to add tires to the playground, and planted trees.

The group from Restore Our Watershed (ROW) spent the morning at Escuela de Florida with the students making mud balls filled with microorganisms that will eventually be thrown into the rivers to naturally clean the water.

The VerdiAzul group cleaned up lots of trash on the beaches, sorted and counted it, and then learned a new game that they will eventually teach the local children.

Similarly, the group that worked at Avellanas spent the majority of their time doing beach cleanup, and then got to play a game of fútbol with the locals once their work was complete.

Finally, there were two groups that spent the morning at Marbella. One group cleaned, sanded, painted, and assembled signs that they will eventually put up throughout the town, and the other walked several miles along the beautiful shoreline picking up plastic and other types of trash.

After our morning of service, the whole group took a trip to La Playa Negra, where we spent two hours hanging out in the waves and enjoying the warm, clear water! Then we got to hear from a wonderful guest speaker, who told us all about the geography, history, and culture of Costa Rica. Overall, it was an awesome day of service and fun!

Additionally, each day we are given one leadership pillar to focus on, and one “leader of the day” is chosen from each mentor group to present that day’s pillar to everyone at chow circle. Last night’s pillar was “live your values”. This means immerse yourself in the things that you find important, surround yourself with things that interest you, and promote positive change in any way you can. To support this idea, we challenged everyone to ask at least one other person what their main values are, and in mentor group we created a tree with the group’s values as the roots, goals as the branches, and ways to meet the goals in the trunk.

We’re all having a great time and can’t wait to tell you all about it! Pura Vida!!

Your leaders of the day,
Caroline, Sophia C., Kiki, Veda, Lily, Taylor, Jesse, and Damyon

Blog Post by Caroline Strahorn and Sophia Callender

Thursday July 25, 2019

Hola parents,

Last night, our leadership pillar was courage. Our challenge was to have a conversation in spanish with a local Costa Rican. Then, in mentor groups we discussed responsible photography and social media usage when traveling or volunteering in a place that’s not your home.

This morning in service, groups filled bags with dirt and fertilizer, and planted saplings, cleaned up the beach, went to the recycling center, or attended a local school’s celebration of the 195th anniversary of Guanacaste joining Costa Rica.

Then, in the afternoon we participated in the festivals, went to a museum about the indigenous people and culture of this area, and played soccer with the local soccer team (and won, 3-2)!

When we got back, we watched the sunset together, had chow circle, and knighted the new Leaders of the Day.

At night, we celebrated Diya’s birthday with a song and some cake, and then we played a thrilling game of Cops & Robbers around the grounds of the eco-resort, complete with thumping battle music in the background.

Pura Vida!

-Noah

Friday July 26, 2019

¡Pura vida! Hola families, I am Abby Guttman, your GLA blogger for today, coming to you straight from gorgeous Costa Rica. The leadership pillar from last night was: connect and influence. The amazing leaders of the day (including yours truly) created the heartfelt challenge of talking to two new people in the GLA program. Then in mentor group we switched things up a little bit. Instead of going off into our mentor groups, we as a whole GLA group gathered in the ranchito and watched this inspirational ted talk, featuring Chimamanda Adichie. She shared her knowledge on “the dangers of a single story”. I personally found her talk very
eye-opening and something we can all learn from. After watching the video we went off in our mentor groups and discussed our thoughts on the video.

This morning instead of doing service right away, we went… drum roll please… ZIP LINING!! We drove all the way up this beautiful mountain and zip lined down 11 different zip lines to the ground. And yes, you heard me right, 11 DIFFERENT ZIP LINES!! I had so much fun and it was definitely one of my highlights of the trip so far.

This afternoon in service we:

Row: Planted seeds in a local nursery and worked on a game to play with the same children tomorrow.

VerdiAzul: Worked at the turtle hatchery and replaced the sand from the previous turtle egg laying locations.

Marbella: One group made signs about recycling and preserving water. The other group sorted micro plastic from the beach and made signs with it. “Also Noah, Keo and Jared killed it” – Nora the amazing mentor.

Clara Vista(aka the best group): We painted a bunch of signs to put around the neighborhood, as well as playing a quick game of soccer with the local kids at the end. Also Sergio and I made the best sign.

Paraiso: Painted a mural outside the school we’re working with, and dug holes to put tires in for the kids to jump in. We also set up a chicken fence.

Avellanas: We walked on a black sanded beach picking up trash. We walked through the rocks, cliffs and cactuses on the beach and concluded our trash cleanup with a rewarding game of volleyball with our local friend Frank, who guides us in our beach cleanup everyday. We also enjoyed some strawberry and pineapple smoothies courtesy of a cafe on the beach.

As the day started to end we watched the sunset together on the beautiful beach watching the waves crash, enjoying the company of our new peers and loving the soft black sand on our feet. Then we knighted the new leaders of the day.

We’ve already met the half way mark and it feels like I’ve only been here for two days. I’m loving every second of this life-changing experience and don’t want it to end. ¡Pura Vida!

Your leaders of the day,
Abby Guttman, Hailey Callan, Mia Rowan, Megan Hager, Voss Schwitter, Madison Holden, Mia Webster and DJ

Blog post by: Abby Guttman

Saturday July 27, 2019

Hola familias!

I’m Indiana Pellegrino, a student participate in GLA. For Day 7 we had lots of fun during service, mentor groups, and our first traditional dance lesson!

– The leadership pillar was discover solutions
—> the challenge attached to that was if you encountered a problem you should find a new solution to solve it so you don’t get frustrated/ give up

During service hours the groups did the following:

Marbella
– That group went to a local beach in Marbella and planted trees. They also planted signs that we painted and made and dug them into the ground for people to recognize. Then they did beach clean up and sorted through trash.
Row & Verdiazul
– Went to a school and played games with locals kids and taught them about the water cycle. At the end they threw the river cleaning mud balls into the river.
Avellanas
– went to a beach and walked 4 miles up and down picking up trash. At the end we had friendly ping pong and darts competitions to create bonds between group members.
Paraiso
– working with different gardens and building fences around them. They also painted murals and signs. Plus they finished adding playground equipment using recycled tires.
Claravista
– They Planted trees and also planted seeds in recycling bottles. They played games with kids and made sure they understood by translating Spanish to English. To finish it off they played a soccer match.

That afternoon we did the following:

After service we ate lunch plus had free time. We went to a nearby beach for a couple hours, then we learned how to salsa/ traditional dance! Michael, the director of this program, and two local dancing instructors led us through multiple dances. They also gave us a special demonstration in their typical dress. At the end, we had an epic dance off.

Finally, to end the day we all watched the sunset together and had our daily leader of the day ceremony where the current leaders knighted the new ones!

– Puravida!

Sunday July 28, 2019

Hi parents!

Last night the leadership pillar was Take Action. Our challenge was to take anything we learned from this experience so far and apply it. An example of this could be that over the course of the first week some of us learned better Spanish so in order to apply it we can speak to the locals in Spanish.

Today was a full day of adventure. For the first half of the day we went tubing down a river. For almost an hour we floated on our tubes as the current took us downstream while also going through some crazy fun rapids. For the second half, we went in hot springs and even got a chance to cover ourselves in some exfoliating mud. The hot springs reached up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit, but it was surprisingly relaxing and I’m sure most of us can agree.

In the afternoon, we watched the sunset as a group and knighted the new leaders of the day.

Looking forward to having more fun times like today.

Your leaders of the day,
Zach, Andi, Charlie, Jamie, Jared, Bhavana, and Kaylin

Blog post by Kaylin Huffman

Monday July 29, 2019

Hey Parents, what’s up!

Last night:
The leadership pillar was inclusion.
Our challenge was to meet two new people and introduce them to two of our roommates.
Then in mentor group we discussed the pros and cons of volunteering for us and our families, and the positive or negative ways we could be affecting the communities we work in.

Today:
This morning in service,
ROW, worked as a team and planted trees. We used materials such as salt, water, and the trees itself. By the end of the hard working day, we planted a total of 93 trees.

VerdiAzul spent the morning working with compost, and preparing it to break down. This job consisted of sifting the compost through a large sifter, and then removing any excess rocks or plastic for usage.

The Paraiso group spent the first part of the morning with the kindergarteners in the school. They taught the kids how to plant seeds and water them, then later watched and learned a traditional dance. After the kindergarteners left, the group finished up last minute painting and enjoyed rice with corn and chicken and black corn juice that the teachers had prepared for them.

Today at service, Marbella walked across one of the local beaches picking up trash and making the beach look better, and because that didn’t take the entire time for service, we swam in the ocean after and bought pastries from a local vendor

In Avellanas (1) we participated in beach cleanup today. We walked for 2 miles along the beach and picked up plastic and other non-compostable items. After our work was done we enjoyed time at the beach for the rest of our service time.

Today in Avellanas (2) we planted mangrove trees along the beach. We also put up signs saying things like “pick up trash” and “pura vida” a native saying. We worked along side local organizations to do this.
The group that worked with Clara Vista today spent their service time helping out wherever was needed. From picking up trash after a local soccer game the day before, to painting signs there was quite a bit going on. Before the service time ended, the group was treated to a pool party at the house of the founder of the organization which was beyond exciting.

In the afternoon:
There were three groups that rotated between three activities including a cooking class in a local’s home, “fútbol” (soccer) with local school kids , and a series of costa rican games. During cooking, we made our own empanadas and tortillas. In the games we played and competed with local children.

We watched the sunset together and knighted the new Leaders of the Day.

Pura Vida,
Your leaders of the day: Julienne Nguyen, Hannah Davis, Kristen, Nick Lopez, Henry Eisenbeis, Trip Magdovitz, Diya Aneja, and Keo Kiriakos

Blog Post by Hannah Davis and Julienne Nguyen

Tuesday July 30, 2019

Yesterday was the perfect last day to an amazing trip. We took a trip on the Catamaran, stopping for snorkeling and lunch off the coast. Dolphins, turtles, and octopuses were spotted along the way! We had a last beach day in Tamarindo, where waves were calm and relaxing! We had a local goods market, complete with live music, set up at our resort so we could load up on locally-made souvenirs.

We came together in the evening for an “appreciation circle” where we anonymously tapped our friends that have impacted us in so many ways. We had our last mentor groups to set group goals for going home, talked about our inner critics, and wrote each other cards. And finally, we had a pool party with music and games!!

It has been an incredible 10 days that we’ll remember forever! We hope all students a safe trip home, and continue on with a fulfilled life of service, learning and leadership!!

Lots of love from your BSA team,
Bianca, Blake, Cassie, Dana, Daya, Drake, Kelly, Lauren, Michael, Nora, & Sergio

Time Capsule Letter

Hey Session 3 of Beachside Service Adventure!

Seems like just yesterday we were watching those gorgeous Junquillal sunsets together, chanting “Leader of the Day”, getting smoothies and nachos from the hotel bar and embarrassing ourselves to eat dinner first. The Beachside staff miss y’all so much! We hope that your summer in Costa Rica had a lasting impact on the ways you think about the world and your role in it. We hope you’ve continued to think about how to be responsible travelers, you’ve thought about the impact humans have on our beautiful planet, and you’ve shared those lessons with others!

Here’s a reminder of the goals you made with your group on the 2nd to last night:

Avellanas & Paraiso:

Our OMG is to take action and stay consistent. Each member wrote one SMART goal thats specific to them with a dibujito (little drawing). i.e. I’ll bring my to-go mug every time I buy coffee at the local coffee shop

Marbella with Kevin:

Create one project to help out local environment and influence others.

VerdiAzul:

Our OMG was to utilize the leadership skills developed on the program to educate others of trash and recycling habits when we get home. To be more conscious of picking up trash around our own communities and to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

ROW:

We wanted to make our one major goal to embody our service project, which is why we named it ROW.

R – RELATIONSHIPS.
Stay in touch, create new ones & always be willing to go deeper!
O – OPEN MINDNESS
Be open to new challenges, new people, new cultures and new activies.
W – WORLD WIDE AWARENESS
Travel, acceptance, learning, cultural awareness & new experiences!

Marbella with Blake:

Our OMG was centered around being mindful of our waste, picking up trash as often as we can and doing our part to further the movement around making and using ecoblocks in our communities. We understand the importance of taking immediate action, as the planet is currently running out of time and we know we can make a difference by exploring and implementing these types of sustainable solutions.

And here are some of our favorite moments from this session:

-“Orientation Stations” race when no one knew each other yet.

-The first lunch with mentor groups, then Bucket of Dreams!

-Tubing down the river

-When we all tried to go to the superhot hot spring and just couldn’t do it!

-Hot Springs and muddy paint brushes

-The traditional dance class that ended in an epic dance-off

-When we all got to make those super cool potteries !

-Swimming in the ocean with waves crashing over us, stormy clouds coming in and a gorgeous black sandy beacZip-lining through the trees

-The empanada making competitions

-The Mentor 7-Minute Speed Meetings!

-Snorkeling with our noodles, off the side of the catamaran

-Our awesome rainy day sunsets

Paraiso

-Somehow the Paraíso group organized a game with the kids and I found you all playing what time is it Mr. Fox with the kids at Paraíso during recess.

-Digging culverts (digging through concrete), painting the tires and making playground equipment for the kids and then seeing them playing on it after 5 days of hard work (you will never look at spare tires the same way again)

-Practicing Spanish with Orlando during service and with the local kids during recess (except the one kid with perfect english??)

-Jane spearheading the bumble bee tunnel and the blue racecar

VerdiAzul

-Remember when we all drank from coconuts on the beach?

-Remember when we got to release baby turtles?

-Remember when Lukas and Jackson got pulverized by kids with water guns?

-Remember when that iguana pooped all over the Verdiazul backyard?

-Remember when we had a cut-throat compost sifting competition?

Marbella with Kevin

-When we were all crushing cans and bottles at the recycling center and also got to see the cute puppies.

-When we made the paint pots for the school kids and how excited they were to get a plant to take home.

-Remember doing yoga before beach clean-up!

-When we all made those wonderful dream catchers and we caught our dreams.

-Remember when we painted the big recycling cans and they used them all over the town!

-Don’t forget skinny legend, Scooby-Doo, and the puppy with too much attitude.

Avellanas

-Any moment with Frank at the beach.

-Enjoying juice and fruit every day after beach cleanup because Frank is so grateful

-Seeing the alligator being summoned from the water during service

-Picking up trash with Jeremy and Jirmar and practicing our Spanish

-Playing the 522 questions game and learning too much about each other

-Courtney’s singing

Marbella with Drake

-Remember when we all made it a group goal to make sure Grady made it to breakfast on time?

-Remember our group meditations and how peaceful we felt afterwards?

-Remember that time you were the only mentor group given all the answers to the family feud game and then made it seem like you didn’t know all the answers?

-Remember making dream catchers and how wonderful it felt handing them over to the school children down the street who were so excited to be receiving them?

-Remember walking the beach, picking up trash and then getting to plant trees and how awesome that felt to be contributing to something long lasting for that space?

ROW

-Remember when we had to sift through the cannon ball sink to look for seeds and the fruit smell was kind of disgusting?

-Remember when charlotte thought she had a tan but it was just dirt on her face?

-Remember when we ate watermelon bigger than our faces?

-Remember when we had a seed scraping contest?

-Remember how we played with these kids and tried our best speaking Spanish?

Thanks for all the incredible memories! Keep exploring and asking questions – we are excited to see all the things you do in the future!

Much love,

Blake, Cassie, Dana, Daya, Drake, Jacob, Kevin, Michael, Nora, & Sergio

 

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Tuesday July 9, 2019

Hello Family & Loved Ones!

Our students have arrived at our gorgeous home base in Junquillal, Costa Rica. Most were exhausted after traveling since late, but everyone is now here and settled into the rooms they’ll call home for the next 10 days.

We can’t wait for the adventures, service learning, lifelong memories, and deep friendships that await.

Pura Vida!! More updates to come.

Your Beachside Service Adventure Team,
Michael, Daya, Cassie, Blake, Dana, Drake, Nora, Sergio, Kevin, & Jacob

Wednesday July 10, 2019

Orientation Day of Beachside Service Adventure Session 2 was a giant success! We kicked off our summer with a welcome circle including some quick Spanish learning, an active game, and a mindful moment. Then we announced service projects; students will be working with local organizations cleaning up beaches, planting trees, restoring the watershed, and beautifying the community.

Every student successfully completed the orientation photo scavenger hunt learning about environmental risks, inventing the perfect disciplinary policy, hysterically acting out “code of conduct” skits, and learning about Costa Rican culture and how to be respectful travelers. All students also met their service/mentor groups today and started to discover the leadership curriculum focused on GLA’s leadership pillars.

We talked in our newly formed “mentor groups” about what leadership means to us and when we have been leaders. Then the “Bucket of Dreams” activity was a very fun (and often frustrating) way to actively learn about teamwork, support, and the different styles of leadership. While students wrote in their journals, mentors completed the health checks with each student to make sure everyone is happy, healthy, and enjoying themselves.

After a review of safety procedures, we took a walk to the beach to watch the sunset, which was so beautiful we didn’t even mind the light rain! We had our first “Chow Circle” where the leaders of the day introduced tomorrow’s Leadership Pillar. We ate dinner in our new friend groups and had free time to relax, walk around the hotel, and play games. In the evening, mentor groups met up for a talk about what we value personally and as a group. We put those values to the test and came up with our own community contracts that we’ll abide by for the next 10 days.

It has been a very long day, but we are so excited to meet our local community organizations and start service learning tomorrow!

Thursday July 11, 2019

¡Hola glamilia! Today Beachside Service Adventurers practiced the GLA pillar of leadership “Live your values”. We all strived to discover our own morals, beliefs, and ideologies and try to embody them in our own lives and community service projects. Our challenge was to learn about the values of our peers and try to understand why they have them and how they present themselves in our friends lives.

We had group discussions in groups led by our amazing mentors where we talked about our core beliefs and the reasons behind them. Today and yesterday we have started sharing our stories of self where we share the important aspects of our lives within our mentor groups. Today was also the first day of our service!

At the Marbella group one group cleaned up the beach for environmental beautification and got a chance to engage with the local children in a game of soccer. Another group reused oil drums and painted them to make recycling bins.

In Verdiazul, the group cleaned up trash on the beach and helped preserve the environment. They later had the opportunity to take a break and play a squirt gun game with the local kids.

In Paraíso, the group went to a local school and began working on beautifying the grounds by building a new play space and garden.

In Avellanos, the group picked up trash around the area walking all the way up to Playa Negra. They learned the importance of their work and how pollution and trash has affected the community. They later were able to take a nice break in a game of soccer with local kids who were also helping with the trash clean up.

In ROW (Restoring Our Watershed), the group utilized microorganisms to make mud balls which will later be used to purify water. The group also played around with the kids including some piggy back ride.

We all had a great days here in Costa Rica (and the torrential rain only adds to the fun). Can’t wait to see what’s next!

¡Pura vida!

Dana Oshiro Jane

Friday July 12, 2019

This morning we started with ziplining and a pool party. Sergio played some sick beats, and Michael organized a riff off! Ziplining was amazing fun. It put a lot of people out of their comfort zone, but it helped us grow as leaders. There were double and triple lines. We went on 11 courses and got to see some of Costa Rica’s stunning scenery. All of us had a chance to practice our Spanish with the zipline guides. After quickly grabbing some lunch, we headed to our service projects!

Today VerdiAzul and ROW went to a park with some local kids and played games that taught them about water conservation. They did a relay race with various activities that taught them the importance of saving water. After that we played other games with them. We walked to a nearby river with them and threw mud balls in the river that one of the service groups made the previous day. The mud balls are made of microorganisms that help clean the river water. Then we said goodbye to the kids and came back to home base!

Today the Paraíso School team finished painted old tires to create a new play structure for kindergarten age children. We also worked on the planters. We are all planning on putting a handprint on the tires. The tires play structures looking like a bumble bee and a ladybug! The kids can either use them as a tunnel or jump on them. We wanted to try and finish before Monday because the children will start school again.

Avellanas Beach Cleanup went and picked up Local named Frank and 2 local kids and went to a large beach near there home where we picked up many different types of trash from microplastics spread along the beach to bottles and cans left in the brush farther from the ocean. Once we filled up 3-4 bags of trash we played soccer with the local kids and brought them back to their home!

The group picked up trash off of the beach, students were shocked at the amount of plastic being left on the beach. It was rewarding to see the finished product with no more trash left on the beach.

Marbella Verde students went to the community center today. They were introduced to Lori and Nuri. Students were set the task of painting old cans so that they could be used as recycling containers all across Costa Rica. It was fufilling to see the end result and to walk away knowing other students better.

This evening we all went to watch the sunset, ate grilled chicken with rice, beans, and salad. Afterwards for mentor groups we switched things up. Tonight we all had a opportunity to hear about other mentors life experiences. We all appreciated the mentors opening up to us! Overall today was an adventurous and exciting day!

-by Olivia

Saturday July 13, 2019

Day 5 started with a delicious breakfast of french toast. A classic. From there, each of the five service project groups went there separate ways for a morning full of new experiences and fun activities. Marbella Verde left the earliest at a shocking 715 in the morning but they were all up and ready to go. While one of the two Marbella groups went into the city, the other went to the beach. The beach clean up team started off their day with some early morning yoga led by a woman named Lori.

Afterwards, they powered through the heat while beautifying the environment around them and picking up enough trash to fill an impressive ten bags. The city team spent the day picking up trash and meeting some cute dogs along the way before combining into one large group to go to the recycling center. The work was tough but extremely rewarding and everyone is happy to help. Three of the service groups left later at 745: Avellanas, Paraíso School, and ROW.

The Avellanas service group spent the day on the beach picking up microplastics that would have otherwise ended up in the ocean. Despite the humidity, there were hardly any complaints from these troopers!

The Paraíso School service group went back to the school to finish the projects they had started yesterday. They built and painted structures to look like a bumblebee and a race car for the kids. In the garden, they recycled old tires to make plant holders and even made a new friend! His name was Fernando. Also, he was a frog.

The ROW (Restore Our Watershed) crew went to a local plant nursery today to learn about erosion and local water sources. They then planted trees and cannonball fruit seeds. The group had to slam the cannonball fruit on the ground to open it and then search for and plant the seeds. Everyone had a blast breaking open the fruit but were not so happy when they realized the fruit had a very…unique…smell. They then enjoyed a scrumptious fruit platter of pineapple and papaya from a local market.

Verdiazul, my group, was the last group to leave at 8. Yes, you can be jealous. We spent the morning working with a man named Jaime digging holes for turtle eggs. The sand was heavy and it was very hot, but the group worked together and dug a solid 16 holes to put nets in for the turtle eggs. We also spent our time talking to the locals and practicing our Spanish, even getting some raw coconuts to quench our thirst. All the groups came back around 12 for lunch. We all enjoyed the food and also our much needed free time. Probably lots of naps were taken!

Afterwards we went to the beach, and even though the trip ended early due to thunderstorms, everyone still had a blast. Right afterwards, we had an amazing dance (baile!) class led by two local salsa dancers. The warm up was led by Micheal, our amazing camp director, and we all got very into his Zoomba moves. We learned several fun dances and at the end we all converged into one big dance circle. It was one of the highlights of the day! Dinner was next. Tonight was an overall favorite. TACOS!! Finally, we watched an inspirational video about how it is always important to have more than one story about someone before judging and making assumptions. It was an amazing day and we can’t wait for more!!

-By Hannah and Eva

Sunday July 14, 2019

Even though we didn’t have service, today was still a pretty busy day. We woke up early for a 6:15 breakfast, and left at 7 for Tubing at a river about two hours from home base!

Upon arrival, we listened to some safety instructions, took our tubes to the river and plunged in the water. The wild ride downstream lasted around 45 minutes. After returning our tubes and getting back on the bus, we drove to a nearby restaurant for an amazing buffet lunch. We had some free time to chill and visit the souvenir shop, then we headed over to the natural hot springs. We relaxed there and covered ourselves in mud, which has positive effects on the skin. After drying off, we headed back to home base.

We had our sunset meeting around 6, dinner and then got into our mentor groups to do an activity where we took on roles to debate a true controversial issue not far from here, regarding a hotel conglomerate destroying important mangroves and turtle nesting beaches. There were four sides: the hotel, the local people, the local government and the Costa Rica Ministry of the Environment.

-by Lukas

Tuesday July 16, 2019

¡Hola GLA familia!

Today’s leadership pillar for everyone in Beachside Service Adventures was “Be inclusive” in order for all our adventurers to get to know each other better. As a leader, we need to be able to create a safe and open environment where everyone feels like they can talk to anyone without the fear of judgement or being left out. Each person was tasked with talking to five new people and learning one interesting fact about each of them. By the end of the day, many of our peers who had rarely talked before were able to discover commonalities between themselves and form deeper connections with each other.

Here’s a quick summary of the highlights of today’s service:

⁃ Marbella: Both groups were continued making dream catchers and cleaning up the beaches. One group dug up and replanted coconut trees in a new area then took their trash to a local recycling center.
⁃ Avellanos: The group cleaned up trash from Playa Avellanos and learned about the importance of mangrove trees in the ecosystem
⁃ Parasío: They finished painting signs and murals, completed the creation of the garden, and then many played Costa Rican and American games with the students from the school.
⁃ ROW (Restoring Our Watershed): We planted indigenous tree saplings along a river that connected two protected forests in Costa Rica to restore the natural pathway between them and prevent erosion.
⁃ Verdiazul: The group made ecobricks, cleaned up the nearby beach, and then helped to released the newly hatched sea turtles.

The last day of service was bittersweet as we said goodbye to the guides who have been working with us every service day, but we continued the day with a rally. It consisted of a cooking class, a class where we learned traditional games, and soccer, but we were able to turn every bit of it into a competition. We cooked delicious empanadas and judged them for their beauty, competed against each other in traditional Costa Rican games, and had a fierce game of soccer with the local children.

After dinner, everyone worked together in their food groups in a fun game of Volunteer Feud where we had to name the pros and cons of voluntourism/service learning. It was a new topic for a lot of us (including me) and we were able to learn so much about how our volunteering in GLA can both positively and negatively affect the local communities. In our mentor groups, we continued this discussion by talking about how our certain service groups fit in with the pros and cons of our volunteering and how we can continue volunteering in our own neighborhoods. Since this was one of our last meetings with our groups, we wrote down some group goals that extended past the conclusion of our adventure together in Costa Rica.

Let’s all have an amazing last day together!! ¡Pura Vida!
Kaitlyn Lee

Time Capsule Letter

Hey Session 2 of Beachside Service Adventure!

Seems like just yesterday we were watching those gorgeous Junquillal sunsets together, chanting “Leader of the Day”, getting smoothies and nachos from the hotel bar and embarrassing ourselves to eat dinner first. The Beachside staff miss y’all so much! We hope that your summer in Costa Rica had a lasting impact on the ways you think about the world and your role in it. We hope you’ve continued to think about how to be responsible travelers, you’ve thought about the impact humans have on our beautiful planet, and you’ve shared those lessons with others!

Here are some of our favorite moments from this session:

-“Orientation Stations” race when no one knew each other yet.

-The first lunch with mentor groups, then Bucket of Dreams!

-Our crazy tubing adventure in that river that was faster than anyone expected.

-Hot Springs and muddy paint brushes

-The traditional dance class that ended in an epic dance-off!

-The first beach time with that crazy current

-The second beach time with the beautiful bridge

-Zip-lining through the trees

-The competitions to eat first, specifically the best animal noise!

-The empanada making competitions

-The Mentor 7-Minute Speed Meetings!

-Snorkeling with our noodles, off the side of the catamaran

-The overwhelming final blindfold game in the pool, followed by the party!

ROW

-Everyone practicing Spanish/Italian with Albertino and him practicing English with us

-Casey laying down in the grass with a tree on her head

-Having humor as our most valued value

-Inner critic circle where we realized how alike we are

VerdiAzul

-Listening to the stories of self of everyone helped to bond with everyone and to realize that everyone has a story with failures and successes, with challenges and treasures. Listening to them created an open space of respect and good vibe!

-Playing with the kids while teaching them about the importance of water and why we should save water was so much fun! We tried our best to explain every activity in spanish and talk to them in spanish! They loved playing football with us and getting wet with us!!

-The day we were working in the recycling centre and it started raining so much that we had to go into a big trash container! We had a great time and we laughed so hard being inside this trash container looking at the rain!

Rio Seco

Remember when Lizano was our friend for a week?

Remember when we got to see everyone sitting on our benches?

Remember when Ellie was the best whoa’er we’ve ever seen?

Marbella

-Anthony swimming away and screaming from the fish he went to go see while snorkeling

-Drake hitting a wasp nest at service and everyone screaming and running in the church, slamming all the doors shut

-Everyone encouraging each other at the zip line to go—showing tons of love and support

Thanks for all the incredible memories! Keep exploring and asking questions – we are excited to see all the things you do in the future!

Much love,

Michael, Daya, Sergio, Nora, Kevin, Drake & Jacob

Now here are the Goals you made with your group on the 2nd to last night! We hope you’ve remembered them and stayed true! If not, you can always start now!!

Rio Seco:

Marbella:

ROW:

VerdiAzul:

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Thursday June 27, 2019

Hello Family & Loved Ones!

Our students have arrived at our gorgeous home base in Junquillal, Costa Rica. Most were exhausted after traveling since late last night, but everyone is now happily in the rooms they’ll call home for the next 10 days.

All but six students arrived in the afternoon. We walked on the beach, completed the swim test, watched the sunset together and had a traditional Costa Rican dinner called casado. We can’t wait for the adventures, service learning, lifelong memories, and deep friendships that await.

Pura Vida!! More updates to come.

Your Beachside Service Adventure Team,
Michael, Daya, Nora, Sergio, Kevin, & Jacob

Friday June 28, 2019

Orientation Day of Beachside Service Adventure Session 2 was a giant success! We kicked off the our summer with a welcome circle including some quick Spanish learning, an active game, and a mindful moment. Then we announced service projects; students will be working with local organizations cleaning up beaches, planting trees, restoring the watershed, and beautifying the community.

Every student successfully completed the orientation photo scavenger hunt learning about environmental risks, inventing the perfect disciplinary policy, hysterically acting out “code of conduct” skits, and learning about Costa Rican culture and how to be respectful travelers. All students also met their service/mentor groups today and started to discover the leadership curriculum focused on GLA’s leadership pillars.

We talked in small groups about what leadership means to us and when we have been leaders. Then the “Bucket of Dreams” activity was a very fun (and often frustrating) way to actively learn about teamwork, support, and the different styles of leadership. While students wrote in their journals, mentors completed the health checks with each student to make sure everyone is happy, healthy, and enjoying themselves.

After a review of water safety and the final swim test, we met up to watch the sunset and walk on the beach. We enjoyed a peaceful 6pm sunset and had our first “Chow Circle” where the leaders of the day introduced tomorrow’s Leadership Pillar. We ate dinner in our new friend groups and then all the students had free time to relax, walk around the hotel, and play games. In the evening, mentor groups met up for a talk about what we value personally and as a group. We put those values to the test and came up with our own community contracts that we’ll abide by for the next 10 days.

It has been a very long day, but we are so excited to meet our local community organizations and start service learning tomorrow!

Saturday June 29, 2019

At GLA, we follow a “leadership pillar” every day. The first pillar for today was “Live your values”. As the leaders of the day, last night during chow circle we challenged everyone to live their values. This means to be authentic to yourself, and follow your beliefs. During mentor groups we made a group contract saying which assets we value the most while doing service. For example, if your value is inclusion, throughout the day your goal might be to make no one feel left out.

Today was our first service day, some of the service sites include Rio Seco (a local community), Restoring our watershed (ROW), turtle conservation and beach cleanup, as well as trash separation at Marbella community.

At Rio Seco today, we we worked on restoring a historic Costa Rican church and made sure to stick to the values we chose the night before.

While at the community of Marbella, we went to a Costa Rican community and organized and recycled the trash of the community. It was rewarding. The people were very nice and friendly. We then connected with the people there and we were given a tour to a nearby beach.

At ROW, GLA students went to a tree conservation site where they learned about the power of erosion on the environment. They were then asked to assist in placing seedlings into bags of dirt which they sifted and made fertile, allowing for the trees to grow. Students also got to enjoy fresh bananas which were very delicious.

Finally, at VerdiAzul, turtle conservation and beach cleanup, we picked up small micro plastics. This is very crucial because although we think of micro plastics as harmless, they can pose a serious threat to the turtles – as the turtles can swallow them. In addition to micro plastics, we picked up metal cans, bags and more. Doing this we ensured that the turtles can safely make it back to their homes.

Later in the day, we were lucky enough to be hosted by the locals in their community, Las Delicias. We played traditional games with local leader Frank, played soccer with local school kids and Doña Yolanda welcomed us into her house to teach us how to cook empanadas! We all had am amazing time trying new food and interacting with the locals. We’re very grateful for the experience they shared with us.

By Amitha Soundararajan and Cameron Hornbarger

Ps. Hi mom and dad – amitha

Sunday June 30, 2019

At our meeting last night, the new Leaders of the Day discussed the GLA pillar which everyone would be focusing on for the next day: Connect and Influence. This meant not only engaging with the locals, but with the campers around us. Through these new interactions, we will be able to have a greater impact on others.

Later, in mentor groups, the groups discussed the sharing of photos. Groups were presented different photographs shared on social media. Through discussion, we were able to identify problematic posting, as well as gain a better understanding of the role of social media in breaking and spreading stereotypes.

Sunday was an adventure. We spent the morning sailing on a catamaran where we were able to sit above deck and enjoy the beautiful weather. A short boat-ride later and we were at our destination: a shoreline where we suited up in snorkeling gear and ventured out to the wildlife filled rocks along the shore. Some of the sights included many vibrantly colored fish, sea urchins, and even an eel. Back on land, we took a drive to a nearby beach where we got to play in the wild waves.

Upon returning to Home Base, we were taught how to dance by locals. They led us in a Zumba warm up, basic salsa steps, a traditional dance from this region of Costa Rica, and then topped it off with a freestyle group dance off.

A tropical storm came through just as class was ending, so we all took shelter from the pouring rain. Leaders of the day met with the directors to discuss what has been going well and where we can improve the student dynamic. The student leaders had a very productive talk and came up with great solutions to make what’s already a very fun and positive group even better! It was presented during nightly “chow circle” and all students were on board. Then we had anonymous shout outs, announcements, and as always, the Leader of the Day ceremony to “pass the torch” to tomorrow’s leaders.

– by Evan

Monday July 1, 2019

Last night in mentor groups we had a mock debate about a controversial issue in a beach town not far from us. Some represented Hotel Riu, a conglomerate company from Spain that is accused of environmental and human rights violations. Some represented MINAE, the ministry of the environment in Costa Rica. Some represented Fraternidad Guanacasteco, an organization representing the local people. And some represented La Municipalidad, the local (and possibly corrupt) government. The discussions got very heated, but many were able to come up with sensible agreements for a very complex problem.

The next morning we spilt into our mentor groups to go to our service projects. One of our teams was working on water restoration, today they found tree saplings in the forest. With those saplings, they replanted them to help them grow safely.

Another one of our service groups went down to the beach to release some sea turtles and then after that they went to another location to make compost.

Also one of our service groups went down to a local church and picked up the trash around and repainted the benches.

Our last service group also went to a local church and helped refurbish it by cleaning and repainting.

After service we all had lunch and then headed down to the Eco Museum, which focused on the area’s indigenous people and how they live. We also got to see how their pottery is made and got a chance to create our own bowls using the traditional naturally made clay.

We got home in time for a gorgeous sunset, had chow circle, and our Leader of the Day ceremony.

– Anna & London

Tuesday July 2, 2019

In mentor groups last night, we had an activity where every member of the group was randomly given a label, like “privileged” “incompetent” or “genius”. Then we had to plan a fundraiser treating each other in the way we’d treat someone who was known as that descriptor. After many laughs, our debrief discussion focused on the labels we give each other and how they are never the full picture. Then we watched the TED Talk “Danger of a Single Story” by Chimimanda Adichie, which discusses the importance of sharing “multiple stories” about people, places and cultures. We split into mentor groups to break it down and apply it to ourselves.

This morning, to start off a fantastic day, we all went to zip line through the jungle. Everyone had a blast! It was incredible to soar over all of the trees and smell the unforgettable aroma of the rainforest. After that, we all climbed in the van; sweaty and tired, and went for a quick dip in the pool. The splashing and laugher was contagious.

Following that, we each divided up into our service groups. The Marbella group continued to paint the local church, the once dirty walls are now perfectly white. In the Rio Seco group, they continued painting benches a brilliant blue and started in on painting the tree trunks white in a surrounding park to protect from bug infestation. In ROW, they continued to plant trees and shell seeds of different indigenous plants. They were able to spot howler monkeys in the trees above them as they worked. In the VerdiAzul group, they helped sort at the local recycling center. Their duty was to sift through cans and squish them to prepare them for further processing. After that, we all met back at home base and the next leaders of the day became inaugurated.

-by Emma

 

Wednesday July 3, 2019

Last night in mentor groups we had “Mentor Speed Dating”, where groups of 4 or 5 students spent 7 minutes with a member of GLA staff. The staff shared a moment from their lives about travel, service or leadership. Then the groups rotated until everyone had heard every mentor’s story. It was an impactful night to realize how many directions life can take and the untold stories that all of us hold. At chow circle, we discussed our pillar for the day; to take action. Our team decided to inspire our peers by being the first to volunteer in our groups. We finished the night off with a delicious dinner and some free time by the pool.

The next morning all of our service groups completed outstanding work today, despite the hot temperatures. Rio Seco worked at the local church and painted benches as well as a casita near the area. Along with Rio Seco, Marbella finished painting the outside of the church white. Row worked in the tropical forest planting seedlings near the river and worked together to help restore the water shed. Using the power of water and the conservation of it, Verdiazul worked to come up with a relay game to help educate local children.

As well as completing service, we took a bus ride to a beautiful beach and played in the waves for a couple hours. After beach time we had a guest speaker, Silvia, share all about Costa Rica. We discussed Costa Rica’s rich history and beautiful landscapes, as well as all that Costa Rica has to offer. She answered our many questions and we finished just in time for another beautiful Junquillal sunset.

-written by Olivia

Saturday July 6, 2019

Last night in mentor group we talked about what to do with all this newly acquired knowledge now that we’re soon heading back to our home countries. We made personal goals and group goals to keep ourselves accountable.

Today was an amazing last day of an amazing trip. We completed our last mornings of service, playing activities with local kids or finishing up the last parts of our projects. After lunch, we had local vendors set up at our resort so we could load up on locally-made souvenirs. We had an anonymous appreciation circle where we could tap our friends that have impacted us in so many ways. We had our last mentor groups to talk about our inner critics and where they come from and how to deal with them in a productive way. It’s a very impactful lesson that ends in a highly positive and emotional way. Finally, we had a pool party that we never wanted to end!

It has been an incredible 10 days that we’ll remember forever! We hope all students a safe trip home on Saturday and continue on with a fulfilled life of service, learning and leadership!!

Lots of love from your BSA team,
Daya, Drake, Jacob, Kevin, Michael, Nora, & Sergio

Time Capsule Letter

Seems like just yesterday we were watching those gorgeous Junquillal sunsets together, chanting “Leader of the Day”, getting smoothies and nachos from the hotel bar and embarrassing ourselves to eat dinner first. The Beachside staff (Michael, Daya, Sergio, Nora, Kevin, Cassie, Richyth, Jackie & Jacob) miss y’all so much! We hope that your summer in Costa Rica had a lasting impact on the ways you think about the world and your role in it. We hope you’ve continued to think about how to be responsible travelers, you’ve thought about the impact humans have on our beautiful planet, and you’ve shared those lessons with others!

Here are some of our favorite moments from this session:

Our tubing adventure where almost everyone fell over at the waterfall, followed by hot springs and the GLA Pain Olympics (who can keep their hand in the hottest hot spring the longest?)

-The traditional dance class that ended in an epic dance-off!

-The perfectly timed flat tire at the coconut stand

-Beach time with craaaazy waves

-The unexpected beach time where we finally all went in together

-Zip-lining through the trees

-The tortilla making competitions

-Snorkeling with our noodles, off the side of the catamaran

-Soccer with the kids in the rain, and chatting with them in Spanish

-Rallying at 9pm (thank you Kate!) to wake up for a sunrise Zumba

-The Toy Story 4 crew

-When Kevin pushed Sergio in the pool and got our final party started

ROW

-When an anonymous member of the ROW service site got trapped in the bathroom for a hot minute.

-When the puppies at the ROW site were jumping all over Dakota and it was so precious.

-When the kids at the ROW service site guessed Jacob was 14 years old and Julia was 29 years old.

-The last day of service, throwing the EM balls we made into the river with the kids.

-The day Albertino talked to us about his goal to reduce his trash, what he considers trash, how he repurposes everything and has produced only one small bag of trash every three to 4 months.

VerdiAzul

-When the little brown dog stole the whiteboard marker and Nora couldn’t get it back so Alex had to.

-When we got to see a newborn turtle make its way to the sea for the very first time?

-Completing Bucket of Dreams so well!

-When Kyra ate 3 ice creams at mentor group

-When those kids annihilated Juanca and Kai with water guns?

Avellanas

-When Aiden was walking with his weapon and his trash bag. Then a street dog that at the end was Cindy’s dog run to him and started to play with and the bag and broke the bag with the trash inside!

-When we went to the service with a little puppy sooooo cute! Everyone was in love with the cute dog!

-When we were playing the game of matching words and flip flop (Emmett and Adam) matched their words on their first try

Marbella

-When Lori made us ride ATVs to the beach

-Patrick and Dylan trying to get the vines for the dream catchers and ended up swinging like Tarzan

-Playing soccer with the students of Marbella and losing

Paraiso

-The first time we worked on the Huerta and completely killed it! We worked so well as a team and nearly finished it in the first 2.5 hours. It helped to create a precedent of hard work and determination that maintained throughout the trip.

-When Sharon dropped her phone 2 minutes on the Catamaran.

-Shanakay braiding everyone’s Hair

Junquillal School

-The satisfying feeling of cleaning, painting, organizing and decorating an entire classroom for the Junquillal community

-Working together to solve the bucket of dreams as a new team and then guessing who wrote each dream

-Playing “lollipop” instead of “eggs and bacon” to accommodate all dietary needs (hey Serena)

-Ayden locking herself in the bathroom to effectively sand the door and frame

-Delaying our last mentor group so you could all have a solid farewell with our GHG chant included (GHG on 3!)

Thanks for all the incredible memories! Keep exploring and asking questions – we are excited to see all the things you do in the future!

Much love,

Michael, Daya, Sergio, Nora, Kevin, Cassie, Richyth, Jackie & Jacob

Here are some of our OMG (One Meaningful Goals) from the last night of mentor group. Have you stayed true to your commitment?

Junquillal School:

Marbella:

Get involved in our own communities!

ROW:

Reduce waste/trash they produce by:

-Stopping the use of plastic straws in their families.
-Start repurposing products and recycling.
-Continue volunteering with environmental organizations.

Avellanas:

Meet 10 new people, write down associated stereotypes, have more conversations to break down stereotypes

 

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Saturday June 15, 2019

Hello Family & Loved Ones!

All students have arrived at our gorgeous home base in Junquillal, Costa Rica. Many had been traveling since late last night, but everyone is now happily in the rooms they’ll call home for the next 10 days.

Those that got here early walked on the beach, completed the swim test and hung out by the pool. Many got in during the afternoon and played games at the airport until their bus was full. By the time sunset came around, we were only without eight students. With their arrival at 9pm, we were finally complete!! We can’t wait for the adventures, service learning, lifelong memories, and deep friendships that await.

Pura Vida!! More updates to come.

Your Beachside Service Adventure Team,
Michael, Daya, Nora, Sergio, Kevin, Jackie, Jacob, Richyth & Cassie

More photos from yesterday (arrival day)!

Sunday June 16, 2019

Orientation Day of Beachside Service Adventure Session 1 was a giant success! We kicked off the our summer with a welcome circle including some quick Spanish learning, an active game, and a mindful moment. Then we announced service projects; students will be working with local organizations painting schools, cleaning up beaches, replanting trees, building hatcheries for sea turtles, restoring the watershed, and beautifying the community.

Every student successfully completed the orientation photo scavenger hunt learning about environmental risks, inventing the perfect disciplinary policy, hysterically acting out “code of conduct” skits, and learning about Costa Rican culture and how to be respectful travelers. Pura Vida! All students also met their service/mentor groups today and started to discover the leadership curriculum focused on GLA’s leadership pillars.

We talked in small groups about what leadership means to us and when we have been leaders. Then the “Bucket of Dreams” activity was a very fun (and often frustrating) way to actively learn about teamwork, support, and the different styles of leadership. While students wrote in their journals, mentors completed the health checks with each student to make sure everyone is happy, healthy, and having a great time!

After a review of water safety and the final swim test, we met up to watch the sunset and walk on the beach. We enjoyed a peaceful 6pm sunset, ate dinner in our new friend groups and then all the students had free time to relax, walk around the hotel, and play games. In the evening, mentor groups met up for a talk about values and to make our community contracts.

It has been a very long day, but we are so excited to meet our local community organizations and start service learning tomorrow!

Monday June 17, 2019

Last night we announced the first pillar of leadership: Living our values. Afterwards, we split up into our mentor groups and did an activity to discover our personal values and brainstormed on some group values and examples that we thought were important. Today we had an early start with breakfast at 6:45 am, and then we went straight to our service sites with our mentor groups.

The group at Junquillal School painted the walls, and on their off time, they played soccer with the kids. The group at ROW (restoring our watershed) learned about preserving water using watershed and vegetation. They also planted and transferred saplings. The group at VerdiAzul started their post/fence making process by sanding down logs. They even got to see a baby turtle make its way to the ocean to start its new life!!

At Paraiso School, students cleared all the weeds in order to plant new seeds, which the surrounding monkeys found very interesting. They also got to watch the 6-year-olds in their dance class, which was adorable!! At Avellanas, students picked up trash on the beautiful and famous beach with charismatic local leader Frank. At Marbella, students sanded wood and prepared signs about caring for the environment. They also saw some howler monkeys!! After coming back for lunch, we took some time to get ready for the beach!! We all went to the local beach and got to swim among the huge waves and play some volleyball with the mentors.

Later, we were fortunate enough to hear from a local who has lived in Junquillal for over 30 years. She talked about Costa Rican culture and history, specifically about the Guanacaste province. After that, most of the kids took our nightly trip to see the sunset over the beach while current leaders of the day and tomorrow’s leaders of the day debriefed. Finally, the night ended with Chow circle where leaders of the day presented the shout outs, schedule and tomorrow’s announcements, as well as the leader of the day knighting for tomorrow’s leaders of the day.

-Alex W., Stella C., Olivia K.

Tuesday June 18, 2019

Last night in mentor groups we had a mock debate about a controversial issue in a beach town not far from us. Some represented Hotel Riu, a conglomerate company from Spain that is accused of environmental and human rights violations. Some represented MINAE, the ministry of the environment in Costa Rica. Some represented Fraternidad Guanacasteco, an organization representing the local people. And some represented La Municipalidad, the local (and possibly corrupt) government. The discussions got very heated, but many were able to come up with sensible agreements for a very complex problem.

This morning we got off to an early start getting on the buses at 7AM. It was a 2 hour drive to the Adventure tours. It’s tubing time! Everyone got their tubes and walked down to the rapids. It was an hour long float down the river speeding through the heavy currents and over the waterfalls.

After tubing down the river we had an amazing lunch of fruits, pasta, chicken, beef, corn, etc. After lunch we got time in the Gift Shop for souvenirs before heading to the second excursion of the day, the hot springs!

A quick shuttle ride and hike brought us to three natural hot springs of varying temperatures. Along with the volcano heated pools was exfoliating mud to relax everyone before the long day of service tomorrow.

After a couple hours of unwinding with our natural spa treatment we headed back. Halfway through our drive home, one of our buses got a flat tire… but it was a blessing in disguise for us AND the man selling coconuts by the side of the road. We got a much needed car break with refreshing “pipa fria” (cold coconut water). By the time everyone had theirs, the bus was back up and running!

We got back to home base just in time for a beautiful sunset and dinner.

-Patrick

Wednesday June 19, 2019

After a long morning of service work, we took a cultural excursion to the Chorotega Eco-Museum to learn about the indigenous tribes that once ruled this land. We had a pottery class to make our very own bowls using traditional techniques.

In mentor groups, we discussed how to “connect our heart to our head” when supporting a community that’s not our own. In other words, how can we be responsible in the way that we provide service, making sure that we maximize positive outcomes and minimize the possible negative consequences of our actions?

Thursday June 20, 2019

Beachside started our 6th day with a zip-lining adventure and pool activities. Some students had the opportunity to zip-line first while others stayed back and enjoyed pool time with music and games. After every student had their opportunity to zip line, the afternoon came just in time because it poured showers right when we got back to home base and stopped right before we started service.

At service:

Paraiso gardened and helped students study

Avellanas picked up trash on the beach and some local school kids helped them out.

Marbella went to a local school, planted some trees, cleaned up the beach, made signs and played some soccer with local school kids to end a hard day.

Verdiazul went to the beach and dug holes for the new turtle hatchery. They put posts in the ground for the fencing.

ROW planted trees and worked on community beautification.

Junquillal School continued painting the local schoolhouse.

-by Cole

Friday June 21, 2019

Our mentor group topic last night revolved around the well known ted talk “The Danger Of A Single Story” by Chimamanda Adichie. The students learned how known first impressions can’t be the only story. There is always more to someone, something deeper inside the surface. We need to unite and dig deep instead of hopping on the bandwagon and believing everything we hear. We need to stand up and see for ourselves, because most of the time, the single story is false, yet so many people believe it to be the only truth.

Today at service:
-VerdiAzul picked up trash and painted at the beach
-Marbella picked up trash at the beach planted signs, and made dream catchers near the pool
-Junquillal finished painting the upstairs of the school and started prep work on the first floor
-RESTORE OUR WATERSHED volunteered at the local school to help with their garden and water filtration with planting new vegetation.
-Paraiso hoed and plowed the garden to prepare it for seed planting. In addition, we started out murals, table and tire paintings in order to beautify the school.
-VerdiAvzul: Our service started at the recycling center. Here we helped sort the recycle and trash of the community. After we finished, we returned to VerdiAzul building and planned out our activities for tomorrow’s service with the local children.

In the afternoon, we had “rally day” where we separated into three groups. One group learned traditional cooking in the house of Doña Yolanda who has lived there for over 50 years. One group played traditional games with local leader Frank. One group played a game of soccer with local kids. We rotated every hour so that we all did every activity.

-by Christine & Sophia

 

Saturday June 22, 2019

Today, sadly, brought an end to our service projects. We began the day by heading out to our service sites, and finishing what was left to be done. We are all sad to have to leave the projects we had grown so close to behind, but it was truly amazing to see all the progress we made from day one.

After we left the service site, we changed into our swimsuits and headed out to the beach to soak up some sun while enjoying the waves. Some of us went out in the ocean to swim, while others stayed back and just enjoyed the sand between our toes.

When we all had gotten enough vitamin D for the day, we took our treck back to basecamp where we changed out of our swimsuits and into our finest dance attire! We received lessons on traditional Costa Rican dances from our two phenomenal instructors, Leo & Sai. It’s probably more than fair to say that most of us had sweat all the way through our shirts. Nonetheless, it was an amazing experience.

We ended the day with our usual sunset watching on the beach and chow circle where we discussed our plans for tomorrow. There was a lot of the word “last” written on the schedule, which was a tad sad to see. We all have had such amazing experiences here, have made so many new friends, and have made so many memories we will take home with us. No matter how sad we may all be to leave soon, we still have one more jam-packed day of fun ahead of us!

-Briana

Sunday June 23, 2019

Today was an amazing last day of an amazing trip. We took a trip on the Catamaran, stopping for snorkeling and lunch. We had an impromptu beach hour in Tamarindo, where waves were calm and the whole group could finally all be in the ocean at the same time! We had a local vendors set up at our resort so we could load up on locally-made souvenirs. We had an anonymous appreciation circle where we could tap our friends that have impacted us in so many ways. We had our last mentor groups and discussed everything that we’ve learned, how to take action, and set a goal. And finally, we had a pool party that we never wanted to end!

It has been an incredible 10 days that we’ll remember forever! We hope all students a safe trip home on Monday, and continue on with a fulfilled life of service, learning and leadership!!

Lots of love from your BSA team,
Cassie, Daya, Jackie, Jacob, Kevin, Michael, Nora, Richyth & Sergio