Every now and then, we witness a full-circle moment that reminds us why we do what we do. For us at Global Leadership Adventures, that moment comes when a former student returns—not just with stories to tell, but with a deep desire to give back and help shape the next generation of global leaders.

This summer, we’re thrilled to welcome back Christiana Welsh—not as a student, but as a Mentor on our Global Health Initiative program in the Dominican Republic. Her journey is one of purpose, inspiration, and the lasting impact of one life-changing GLA experience.

[Read more…]

Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures Custom Group program!

Here are a few things you can expect:

1. We typically receive 2-3 blog posts per week here at GLA Headquarters from our program staff and students, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post daily – that’s totally normal.
2. Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
3. Due to many factors, including but not limited to internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes onsite program staff are only able to send text back to Headquarters, where our team updates the blog.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.

For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.

-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 2

Today was filled with twists and turns! We started with a delicious breakfast at Hotel Robeldal, before taking a bus ride to go ziplining! We flew our way from canopy to canopy on the ziplines, enjoying beautiful views of San Jose along the way.

Our zipline was unfortunately cut a little short after the rain turned to downpour. We enjoyed lunch at a local spot before embarking on another lengthy bus ride through many of Costa Rica’s landscapes, after which we took a short boat ride and arrived at the Greengold Eco lodge in Parismina.

– Abhay and Micah

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 3

Today was a day of exploration around the camp! We started the day with a delicious meal of eggs and toast, then we went around camp in the farm tour led by Jason. We saw beautiful flowers, ate snacks of coconut, and even saw Howler monkeys and a sloth!

After the tour, we ate lunch at the lodge and then after a bit of downtime we went to the beach! The beach was very nice and after riding the waves and participating in the sandcastle building competition, we went back to learn about ASTOP (Associacion Salvemos las Tortugas de Parismina) from Marc, a local from Parismina.

Next, we enjoyed dinner at the lodge before we went on our first night patrol. It was very soothing to hear the waves crashing on the coast and walking on the sand.

– Beau and Eleanor

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 4

Leaders of the day: Anvi and Jax

Today we started the day with a flavorful breakfast of rice and beans. We then embarked on a Jungle Boat Tour, where we explored the swampy rivers around the Eco Lodge. We saw a couple types of monkeys, many types of birds, such as egrets and herons, and we saw multiple reptiles, like caimans, crocodiles, iguanas, and basilisks! After that, we ate lunch and had a siesta, or a bit of down time after the meal.

We then took a tour of our host’s vanilla farm, where we learned how the vanilla vines are planted, pollinated, and harvested. We helped on the farm by cutting pieces of the vines and planting them by host trees so that they could grow into big plants. We refreshed our minds with a yoga session and then headed to the beach to pick up trash and enjoy the waves.

After freshening up we had dinner, and we did a leadership debate to understand the complex relationship between nesting sea turtles and coastal communities in Costa Rica.

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 5

Leaders of the day: Quinn and Lily

Yesterday we started the day with a breakfast, then after that we took a truck ride on an airstrip, and went to town. Then we met up with Jerry (Jason’s brother) and he talked to us about ASTOP’s mission and showed us the tools used for measuring and tagging turtles.

We then did a walking tour around the village, along the way we stopped into some shops and bought ice cream and other goodies. We then went to cooking class in our mentor groups and cooked empanadas, but one of the groups ran out of gas, so we had to wait for them.

After that we went to a craft fair and bought hand made souvenirs made out of coconut, cow bone, and cow horn. Then we had lunch, smoothies, and played some card games. After that we met with a dance instructor to get dance lessons if salsa, bachata and Soca, a Caribbean traditional dance.

After the dance lessons, we went to a soccer field and played soccer with the kids of Parismina. After, we had dinner and got ready for our night patrol and then went to the night patrol. We didn’t see any turtles, but that’s okay, we got to see the stars after many cloudy days. Then we went to bed. Tomorrow we are heading to San Jose for our final day in Costa Rica! We have learned so much about the turtles, the wildlife and how our actions can impact the world we live in.

We’ll see you very soon!

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 7

Leaders of day: Carson and Urvi

This morning, after waking up and eating a large breakfast, we went to the beach and enjoyed the waves for around 20 minutes. We all enjoyed our final experience there. After showering up and packing up all our luggage, we started designing signs. On the signs were written messages around the theme of conserving the ecosystem. We ate a final lunch which contained rice, beans, plantains, and fresh fish.

We soon walked to the dock and we rode away from the place where we had spent the last few days of the week. We said our goodbyes to Jason and the wonderful Green-Gold Ecolodge staff before boarding the bus back to San Jose. We checked back into Hotel Robledal, and some played in the hotel pool. The dinner was a nice salad, with mashed potatoes and chicken.

We concluded the day with our final leadership activities. One of them was an appreciation circle where we showed our gratitude and appreciation towards everyone who had helped and inspired us during the duration of the travel. We took a survey that recapped our wonderful trip, as we now prepare to depart back to Colorado!

Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures Custom Group program!

Here are a few things you can expect:

1. We typically receive 2-3 blog posts per week here at GLA Headquarters from our program staff and students, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post daily – that’s totally normal.
2. Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
3. Due to many factors, including but not limited to internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes onsite program staff are only able to send text back to Headquarters, where our team updates the blog.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.

For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.

-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team

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Click here to jump down to the most recent post!

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 16

Written by Grisha and Martin

We made it to Bilbao! Everything went smoothly, aside from all of us being a little tired, and it was really fun. We started the day with an orientation with our GLA directors, and learned a lot from our local guide on our walking tour in the afternoon. The day’s highlight, however, was definitely the food – we had some pintxos, which is typical cuisine from Bilbao.

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 17

Written by Yunwoo and Adrian

Overall, today was even more fun than yesterday since we weren’t as tired after the plane ride. We woke up and had a delicious breakfast. After that we went to a surf hostel, then took a walk to the beach and started surfing. Surfing was easier for some people than others, but it was the ocean so everyone had fun! We walked back to the hostel and had some lunch there. Later we came back to the hotel and had some rest before we went to a museum. The museum was very large and had a lot of different exhibitions. There was a room with an interesting video! At the end of the day we ate pizza nearby the hotel.

Also, did we mention that now we’re famous in Bilbao??

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 18

Written by Jazmin and Vivienne

Today was really tiring, but we had a lot of fun. In the morning we had breakfast and took the subway to see a river that ran into the ocean. We paddled there, and also met some really nice staff that showed us how to paddle and even stand up on the board! We paddled and saw two beautiful bridges – one was white and the other one was red, and ended at an island where we had fun sliding around in the mud.

Afterwards, we walked and ate in a really nice restaurant, all of us were full! Then we walked to the subway station and took the train to our hotel, where we got to chill a little bit. For dinner we are at a restaurant with Japanese food called Buga Ramen. It was absolutely delicious and everyone loved it.

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 19

Written by Cecilia

Today we went to Madrid on the high speed train. The ride was four hours long and a little boring, but at least we arrived! Madrid is a big city. We went back to the hotel and rested a bit, and in the afternoon we tried the flamenco dance of Spain and watched a flamenco show. It was fun and interesting! The day was tiring but good.

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 20

Written by Sophie

Last day of the trip! After breakfast at the hostel, we headed out one last time to explore Madrid. We went first to a park nearby which has a beautiful Egyptian temple, Templo de Debod. We took pictures at the lookout and then did a closing activity where we shared what we’d liked most about the trip, what challenged us, and what we’d learned. We then took a little time for souvenir shopping, and had our last lunch together before heading to the airport. Thank you Spain for having us and we hope to be back someday!

Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures Custom Group program!

Here are a few things you can expect:

1. We typically receive 2-3 blog posts per week here at GLA Headquarters from our program staff and students, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post daily – that’s totally normal.
2. Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
3. Due to many factors, including but not limited to internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes onsite program staff are only able to send text back to Headquarters, where our team updates the blog.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.

For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.

-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team

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Click here to jump down to the most recent post!

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 9

After a long morning of travel, Prospect Hill arrived in the Dominican Republic! We started our day with eating a yummy meal at Pizzarelli. We had some cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, and veggie pizza! After eating, we began our route to the Zona Colonial in Santo Domingo. After dropping off our bags at our hotel for the night, we began our tour of the Zona Colonial. After our tour, we returned to the hotel to decompress from the day and eat dinner. We then ended our night with orientation and excitement around our itinerary for the week!

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 10

For day 2 we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel, after breakfast we headed down and waited for our bus and then we departed for San Pedro and our home base. We dropped our luggage at the home base and then went on a tour in San Pedro where we learned about San Pedro’s history and notable figures from the town. Then, we departed and went to Monte Coca and had lunch and played with the children. To end our day, we did service and we spilt into two groups and shoveled cement into wheel barrels and dropped it. Lastly, after service we came back to home base and have been relaxing and had dinner before finishing our night with learning about different Dominican music genres and dancing bachata, merengue, and dembow.

Leaders of the Day: Anise and Zaki

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 11

Day 3 started off with us enjoying breakfast and started our departure to the work site. For the next two hours, we worked on mixing concrete and helped assist in making floors for the community. We then had lunch shared laughs and dances with the kids and headed back to more hard work at the site. We ended the day with lunch and a nice dip at the pool. Zack and Mr. Lee raced in the pool. We had fun and the food was great today!

— Leaders of the Day: Rekab and Sam

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 12

Today, students completed their final morning of service. They completed the floors for two houses and an outdoor area patio. After service, we headed back to home base to get ready for the beach. Students enjoyed the beach for a few hours before heading back to home base and getting ready for their sunset dinner. After dinner, students had a close out party in one of our spaces, dancing, playing music, and singing karaoke. It was a great time!

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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 13

Today, students woke up and got their suitcases ready to head back to Boston. After a great night celebrating completing service, students were able to sleep in before breakfast. After breakfast, we closed out our program by participating in an Appreciation Circle. Then, we headed to the airport to close out our program. Thank you Prospect Hill for a great time!