Uncategorized - Part 13

June 8, 2022 by Ashley Welter

Costa Rica: Beachside Service Adventure (July 30 – August 8, 2022)

PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM

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

Here are a few things you can expect:

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.
Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
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.

Cell Phone Policy: The GLA cell phone policy is currently in place this summer to help foster meaningful connections between students. This means your student’s phone will be collected every day and returned to them throughout the program during designated spaces of time we call ‘tech time’. Actual tech times and regularity will vary greatly by program location. During designated ‘tech time’, your student may use their phones as they wish. Please note that your student may not always choose to use this time to get a hold of their parents. If you are not hearing directly from your student each day, you can assume that no news is good news! We strongly recommend you follow the blog to follow your students’ experience without talking to them every day. If you are a parent and would like to get in touch with your student directly, you can call us at +1-619-758-3031 and we can set up a formal time for you to connect with your student.

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

Click here to jump down to the most recent posts!

BLOG POST FOR JULY 30

Hello from Costa Rica!

Everyone finally made it safe and sound to homebase! We are currently staying at an eco lodge that is just footsteps away from the beach! Since everyone arrived at different times today, we had a pretty relaxed afternoon. Some people took naps, some did their swim tests and some even played football and volleyball in the rain! Those who arrived to homebase in the afternoon got to go to the beach and watch the sunset. For those that arrived late, don’t worry, we will definitely be going again to watch another sunset. We took a big group picture today but we are missing a few so we will retake another one tomorrow! For dinner we had grilled chicken, rice, beans and salad. After dinner, we played some games to get to know each other better. We are a big group so we will be playing a lot of games!

We’re so excited for these next 10 days. There are going to be so many amazing adventures waiting for us!

Pura vida!

-Brenda, Greta, Luis, Warren, Jocelyn, Bryan (GLA STAFF)

BLOG POST FOR JULY 31

Today was our second day at Beachside. It was our first full day with all of the students. We started the day eating a delicious traditional Costa Rican breakfast, Pinto, along with some fruits and eggs.

We then went into orientation, where we learned about water safety, community service groups, community agreements, sexual harassment, covid protocols, health and hygiene, and program curriculum. It was a long day of orientation with many ice breakers in between to get to know each other better.

We also went to the beach to watch the beautiful sunset and had pork loins with mashed potatoes for dinner along grilled vegetables and salad. We got an hour of tech time to call our parents and friends and finally got to meet our mentors along with our mentor groups.

Today was a great day and can’t wait for tomorrow when we will finally start our first service day!

More photos coming soon!

BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 1

Written by multiple students

My cabin mates in Iguana and I started our morning a little earlier than most others. In that time we just chilled and relaxed at La Playa Negro, which beauty never ceases to impress us. And then later on we had our first official day of service, my group Verdiazul centers around the sea turtles. We learned that every year out of the 38,000 turtles released only about 36 will survive. And out of the seven species of turtles in the world, five are here in Costa Rica at. Including two endangered species. So the work we did and will do really will make an impact even if it’s just one more turtle. To start our first official day we walked the beach, and followed the patrol route that the workers walk on every night. As we walked on the beach, we picked up trash along the way and moved logs as well. We did this in order to help the turtles that will come later on to lay their eggs in the sand. Later on after a special guest speaker we actually found out about some turtles hatching. So we raced over to the beach to see these turtles being released, in fact we even named some of them, their names are Turbo, Poke, and Crush.
– Quin, Peter, Daniel

GWC was another service program, this one focused on water purification through the use of trees and vegetation. As we arrived we were greeted by Marcia and Alberto, they introduced us to the water cycle and seeds. We were taught local ways of how trees transport water to a water shed which many Costa Ricans depend upon. Some water sheds you may know but are not limited to, are the Mississippi River the Nile River, and the Amazon River. GWC also focuses on the conservation of ground water during the dry season, which lasts for about 6 months. -Sabrina & Xanathan

Another service program is UC, this focuses on community conservation through art and messages. At first I was painting a fence by myself but that didn’t last for long as I met a new friend Antonio. He not only helped me but later chased me around with paint. I gave him a piggyback ride, and we sprayed water on each other. He even gave me the nickname El presidente. This allowed me to engage with a community through more than just art.
– Braden

Later on following our services we all went to La Playa Blanca. although very rocky with big waves we all had so much fun, From the volleyball on the beach to the music video we were in for another student here at GLA, – Daniel

BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 2

Written by London, Rod, Hannah, Hugh, Harry, Heidi, David

Today was a very fun day at beachside and at home base! After the mask mandate was lifted this morning and then service, the group went to the chocolate factory and tasted a variety of chocolate, and learned about the process of making chocolate. It rained most of the day resulting in many fun games in the “Ranchito” including a sing-off and volleyball.

The GEA group saw alligators, continued painting signs, and their beach cleanup. GWC worked with more plants, including transfering plants while learning more about water conservation. The UC group continued painting the border around soccer field, and made progress on the mural in the community space while working more with locals. BEA finished painting the signs they’ve been working on, and made new ones too. VA replaced the sand in the hatchery, and practiced teamwork with an assembly line to share the work load. They also did a beach clean up and removed obsticals such as logs.

BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 4

Today we woke up extra early at 5:30am to empanadas- an INTERESTING Costa Rica breakfast food. We packed our bags and hopped on the bus for the two hour bus ride to our adventure day. When we arrived, we harnessed up and received a safety briefing before zip lining across waterfalls all morning. One of the zip lines even involved sliding down a slide. After zip lining, we took a short hike to lunch where we saw lots of animals, including butterflies, and even a monkey in the tree! Lunch was a delicious buffet, followed by another hike to a waterfall. Some students even climbed up to the faster running water to explore as a group.

We then traveled down to the rapids to our tubing adventure. A few students fell in and faced their fears, but climbed back on the tube and continued down the 5k of rapids. On the bus ride back to home base, we had a sing a long to our favorite songs! We then went to the souvenir shop and for ice cream before heading back to the home base. We were all pretty tired from the day, but it was a really fun one!

BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 5

Written by multiple students

Today in the GEA group, we painted signs with environmental messages and hung them up around the beach. We also cleaned the beach and picked up trash around the water and trees. Frank, one of the locals, taught us about the different types of Mangrove trees and why they are important for the environment. He also told us how it is up to our generation to correct the mistakes of our ancestors in order to save the environment. It was a fascinating experience and lessons were learned that will be remembered forever. – Healey & Kate

The GWC group had a unique experience today. We plucked plants from the ground, made fertilizer, and then replanted the planted plants in the scorching heat. After our group finished planting the plants, we planted more plants until all the plants were planted. In the end, our amazing host Marcia and Alberto taught us about our water usage. We indulged in an activity to hypothesize our daily water usage which taught the group a lot about the amount of water we use. -Nick

Today at service, the Bule Flag project planted new trees and pulled out in various weeds to preserve the green. We dug signs in the ground to let locals know where to park cars. We walked along the beach after the tough workout from digging back to camp for a delicious lunch.
-Stephan

Today at VerdiAzul service we cleaned out a nest because some turtle eggs hatched! We also created invitations for the local kids to come to our last day of service and play games! We had a pool party and it was fun 🙂 – Indie

From August 3rd:

Today, Verdeazul went to service and cleaned out the hatchery. There are a lot of bonfires started on the beach and those could be a danger to the turtles. So, clearing out the flammable items will help in preventing that. We also helped sort single use plastic from garbage. Plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose and is able to be used in the building of homes. This helps remove it from our oceans and beaches. – Amber

June 8, 2022 by Ashley Welter

Costa Rica: Beachside Service Adventure (July 18 – July 27, 2022)

PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM

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

Here are a few things you can expect:

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.
Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
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

Click here to jump down to the most recent posts!

BLOG POST FOR JULY 19

Today was orientation day. it was a long but enlightening day. We spent the day getting to know each other and learning more about the program and the expectations associated it. All of us have done our swim tests and are ready for beach and pool time. food was delicious and we got to know our mentor and service groups. We were greeted by a thunderstorm and looked in awe at the lightning show in the sky along with a breathtaking sunset pared with a rainbow. We are excited to start our service days tomorrow.

BLOG POST FOR JULY 20

Written by multiple students

Today we enjoyed wonderful first day of service. We started off the morning strong with yoga and pancakes and then preceded to separate into our separate service groups at eight.
– Misha

—

In the Uniendo Communidades group, we stayed local and cleaned the beach area across the street. It was incredibly enriching to talk to members of the Junquillal community to better understand their environmental concerns and the divide in values between the younger and older generations.
⁃ Meredith

—

At the Guanacaste Water center we started with talking about trees’ importance to water conservation in Costa Rica by water absorption through the roots and water scattering canopies. We then planted tree saplings in bags as part of an effort to keep Costa Rica’s vegetation as healthy and intact as possible during the dry season.

In the GEA today, we learnt about a local primary school, before spending the rest of the morning picking up litter around the local community with one of the helpful teachers from there. We finished off the morning by playing soccer on the field outside the school. We were told that we picked up the most trash of any GEA group on the first day of service during the summer so far!

-Will

—

At the Verdiazul site, we spent the day under the sun saving the sea turtles. First, we cleared a portion of the beach in order to give the baby turtles an easy path to the water. Then, we started to create a sand barrier in front of the hatchery so that the waves can’t reach the eggs. Don’t worry, the turtles will be able to get out! It was a whole process, which consisted of shoveling sand into buckets, hauling it over, and spreading the sand out. We hope to see the turtles hatch at some point this week.

-Alex W

BLOG POST FOR JULY 21

Written by multiple students

Hello family & friends!

This is your daily update here on Beachside journey.

Jaden– Today me and my crew went to a local school to help with their garden. Me and another GLA member Noah filtered out compost to use for the garden. We then cleaned out the brush in the smaller garden. We then went back and later went to the chocolate factory and learned where chocolate comes from. Overall it was an amazing day and now I am about to go swimming Costa Rica’s awesome beaches.

Claudia- Starting the morning off with our 25 min car ride to pick up candy. She lead our way up to a pretty big beach with many dogs. Right after that we started painting signs with positive meanings. Hopefully that can help people understand the meaning off it and make a change at the beach. Meanwhile that we went for a beach clean up and cleaned up everything we could. Overall I’ve been loving my days surrounded by amazing people who love helping.

McKenna & Davis- Today after breakfast we got ready and started our quick walk to the beach. Once we got to the beach we began by adding sand to the barrier we were creating to protect the turtle eggs. The Barrier is used to block the waves from crashing on the egg hatchery. We use buckets and shovels to create this barrier and today we finished it. Only 1-1000 to 10000 turtles and survive and make it into the ocean. Lastly, we shoveled more sand around a ceramic turtle to make it safer for kids to play on it.

Dakota-This morning my mentor (Greta) and the rest of our group drove about 15 minutes to another town. We began by cutting wire to hang up signs to promote the safety and care for this community, and to promote other community members to make a difference. The children from the school across the road invited us to watch their performance in which they shared a land acknowledgment and information about their community and the importance of corn. This was all in Spanish which gave us the ability to interact with community members. We then ended our service by painting tires which will be used as planters for mini gardens!

That’s all for tonight, the next leaders of the day will update you all with tomorrow’s adventures!

BLOG POST FOR JULY 22

This morning, for our service project we headed to the beach and collected over 250 pounds of trash while another group sorted through collected trash and got it to its rightful destination. Other groups helped make saplings, artistic signages and cleaned nests at the turtle hatchery. We all had the opportunity to help the community in our respective service projects. Once we got back, we had a delicious lunch and then we went to a cooking class where we learned to make traditional Costa Rican corn pastries. After that we did some team building games where all of us would hold hands and we would try and pass a rope from one end of the chain to the other, as well as lower a stick balanced on all of our fingers, which sounds much easier than it actually was. The groups approached these activities differently and had varying degrees of success. We then had a debate where we discussed about sea turtle conservation with the students acting as government officials and the various groups that this bill would affect. Overall, we were able to bond and have another great day in Costa Rica!

BLOG POST FOR JULY 23

Written by multiple students

Today’s been an awesome day. Started off the morning with splendid egg squares and of course rice and beans. Sooner than later breakfast was over without a hitch and everyone separated to get ready for service. Early to the busses like usual mostly everyone got on and went to their service camps and others went to their respective beach camp.

Today at UC it was a productive Day as usual. We started off by getting off the bus at the park and we ended up picking up trash around the park and at the respective area around it. There were a lot of beer bottles and aluminum cans to be picked up and a lot of micro plastics as well. After a good 2 1/2 hours of picking up trash we ended up playing ultimate frisbee with a group of local kids at the newly cleaned park.

-Sal

Today at GWC was very eventful. After we got of the bus we went to a field full of trees. We first started by cleaning all the weeds around the trees that were planted by the last group, we then went on to plant other trees. We learned the importance to work as a group that sound like simple tasks. We ended our trip by meditation for 20 minutes and left with a clean mind.

~Noah

This morning at GEA, we got off the bus and our group hiked down through the creek to the beach. We begun to paint signs, came up with ideas for what to put and translated them into Spanish. After the paint had dried we set out to go hang some signs on trees and met a few locals who were out on the beach. We ended our trip by picking up plastic along the Beach and ended up collecting a total of 25lbs.

-Katelyn and Will

For service today with Verdiazul (turtle hatchery), we each sorted and weighed 5000 Mangrove tree seeds which protect the turtle hatchery with shade during the dry season. In total we collected 45000 seeds, as the germination rate is very low and not many will grow into trees. Weighing the seeds will help the staff know about how many they should be planting, rather than counting thousands every time. Overall, it was a very great and chill day in comparison to the previous service tasks!

-Avery and Emma

After service today, we had a delicious lunch before heading over to the beach for the afternoon. The weather was much nicer than the other beach days! We played volleyball and had fun in the ocean too. When we got back to home base, we had dance lessons from fun and kind instructors. We enjoyed learning the salsa and samba dances, even if we didn’t get them perfect. Then we went to dinner as the rain started, and finished the night in our mentor groups. We are looking forward to a day full of adventure tomorrow consisting of zip lining and tubing with a 5:30am wake-up!

BLOG POST FOR JULY 25

Written by multiple students

McKenna and Alex
Today was amazing. We started our day by walking to the beach towards the turtle hatchery. When we arrived we got to see baby turtles being hatched. After they all successfully made it to the ocean, we sorted out and counted all the shells to make an accurate tally. Our last service day ended off with a thorough cleaning of the used buckets.

Sawyer
It was our last day at the water center. We had gone to the back of the garden and continued to work on a new idea, the hamburger method. We started with weeding around the new trees and and planting others. We wended the day with ice cream and talking about how we can conserve water.

Diego
We started our final day of service by visiting a mangrove tree reserve at an eco-friendly resort. We learned about the various types of trees and how important they were to preserve, and then spent hours cleaning scattered plastic on the beach and other trash while gathering whatever mangrove seeds we saw on the ground, in hope to plant them later and improve the reserve. Then we ended the day by taking a nice swim on the beach and having some snow cones and other snacks.

Milena
Today we hung up signs and worked with a local activist who is a part of uniendo communidades and helped her with work that needed to be done. Then, we participated in the community’s parade as a part of their independence celebration. Next, we went to their fair and watched the kids and their families dance and celebrate. Lastly, we joined in the celebration with them and even tried some of the Guanacaste traditional food.

June 8, 2022 by Ashley Welter

Costa Rica: Beachside Service Adventure (July 6 – July 15, 2022)

PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM

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

Here are a few things you can expect:

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.
Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
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

Click here to jump down to the most recent posts!

BLOG POST FOR JULY 7

Today was orientation day. it was a long but enlightening day. We finally received the entire student group and spent the day getting to know each other. most of us have done our swim tests and are ready for beach and pool time. food was delicious and we got to know our mentor and service groups. We are excited to start our service days tomorrow.

BLOG POST FOR JULY 8

Written by multiple students:

Today was our first service day today! We started the community service with collecting trash around parts of the town and then we started painting logos and murals for the local recycling community group. We then went home and had lunch and then headed to the beach after. We played volleyball, football, and swam as a group! Then we went back to the home base and had a costa rican dance lesson in the rain! After dance we enjoyed a spaghetti dinner, and then finished off the day with TECH TIME!!!!!
-Sophia

It was our first day off home base and we had a blast! We started the day early and then headed to our service sites. We picked up over 400 pounds of trash from around the ocean. Then, we came back and enjoyed some really good chicken tenders. It was also our first beach day! We swam, played volleyball, and tanned. After that, we came back to home base to an awesome dance lesson. We learned to samba, salsa, merengue, and more. We then ended the night with a chow circle, an awesome dinner, tech time, and then a meaningful conversation with our mentor groups about our personal values.
-Alexis

This was our first day of home base so there is a lot of stuff to mention. I will not be mentioning most things, but know that your kid/kids did a lot today! First off, tech time! We love tech time- an hour daily where we can use our phones. My group today ventured into a local community and helped with fixing and painting signs, as well as painting murals! Three of my group mates were designated as tommorrow’s leaders of the day (I cant spell their name)! Later we had great Alfredo for dinner (no rice), and moved onto tech time, mentor groups, and Chow cirlce. Bye!
-Cassius

Made it out of bed today, so proud of myself. Breakfast was rice and beans 😋😋😋, yum, with pancakes had to go for seconds. Hung with the turts for service and dug some holes. Even saw a turt egg today 😎😎😎 . Lunch was some fried chicken 😋😋😋. Dancing was an absolute bop and dinner was legendary. Shout out to other GLAers.
-Andrew

For my first day as a leader of day I kinda arrived late for breakfast. We led the breakfast and talked about some of the schedule for the day. After breakfast we started our first service day and I dug holes in order to plant trees in the next few days. After service we ended up having our first beach day and had a quick football game, my team lost…… I then got to show my amazing moves when we learned costa rican dancing (I was the best one). After that we had supper with an amazing sunset!
-Rafael

BLOG POST FOR JULY 9

Written by Leaders of the Day: Max, Jaylen, Eli, Ryn, Lily, Scarlett

Today was filled with exciting activities and bonding as each group contributed to the community in various ways.

Max and his GWC teammates cut bamboo to replant bamboo roots as an objective to reforestation.

Jaylen and his VA teammates walked miles along the beaches, collecting more than 8 full bags of garbage. The overall goal of this activity was to clean up the beach, make a cleaner environment, and save the sea turtles.

ˋˋI miss you mom and dad and I hope you guys are doing well and miss me much. Cya Friday!´

Members of the Blue Flag committee including Elise filled our day with painting washed up pieces of surfboard with inspiring messages for the community. Each of the individuals added their own twist of creativity and passion onto the surfboards which later turned into powerful works of art, reminding us all about the importance of caring for the well-being of the planet we all share.

Day two of UC entailed creativity on all parts, from painting landscape murals with animals, to the logo of the organization, and helpful signs to remind people to keep our oceans clean. Each member added their own ideas and inspiring words to the project making them unique. We worked side by side with children from the local community who are consistently working to keep their home clean.

The members of the GEA group worked with local environmentalists to paint signs reminding community members to keep their beach and trees safe. Signs were made specifically to help protect the mangrove trees which are essential to this ecosystem. Students also removed micro plastics and other garbage from the sand to provide a cleaner beach that will keep the animals safe.

In the afternoon we headed to the beach where we bonded as a group as we swam in the ocean, played flag football and relaxed.

We were also honored to be able to have a local guest speaker who spoke with such passion and joy about this incredible country we are honored to call our temporary home.

That’s all for now folks!

Pura Vida!

BLOG POST FOR JULY 10

Written by Ruby B-H, Noah P, Lily S, Sofia T, Emily H

Today was an adventure day! First we woke up bright and early at 5:30! Breakfast was empanadas with cereal.

Then we went on the bus for two hours to our adventure park. We started off with zip lining with all kinds of activities like tarzaning, dropping into a canyon, going upside down, and rock climbing.

We then went for a short walk to a beautiful lookout where we took photos with all our friends and mentors. We sat down for a delicious buffet lunch and then a longer hike to this gorgeous waterfall where we all went swimming and some tried to climb a waterfall.

Afterwards the leaders led everyone back to the buses to go tubing 5km down the river. It was filled with sharp turns, rocks, and exciting rapids. We all had a blast! Then we headed over to a souvenir shop where we immersed ourselves in the rich Costa Rican culture. Some people got ice cream while others enjoyed Costa Rican chocolate.

We then headed home and had a wonderful dinner followed by our nightly chow circle. Overall today was filled with adventures and we all had a great time!

Pura Vida!

From the best leaders of the summer!✌️🏄‍♂️
Lots of love from the campers

BLOG POST FOR JULY 11

Today was another day of service and filled with fun activities in Costa Rica!

Lizzie and the rest of the VA service group worked hard restoring the turtle hatchery with clean sand along with releasing one of our new hatchlings into the ocean.

Gigi and UC service group used their creative skills to paint beautiful landscapes on benches and posters, and putting up signs with messages spreading awareness. Today was a special day because we had the Rodriguez Lopez family who drove over an hour to come help us.

Olivier and the GWC found creative ways to plant trees to simplify the hard manual labor that we did under the blazing sun during the day.

Emerson and GEA walked down the beach hanging signs from the previous service days efforts for the first half of service. The group continued down the beach collecting trash and solved problems associated with collecting heavy or hard to reach trash. In all, a really great day for GEA, Greta, Frank, Emerson and Candy.

Melrose and the blue flag team planted Almond trees by the sea shore and post to stop cars to park in front of the beach and damage the ecosystem for the sea turtles, after we did a beach clean up and had fresh fruit before heading back to home base.

We then headed back to home base for lunch. Afterwards, the group headed to a chocolate workshop where we learned how to make chocolate and taste tested several types of chocolate. Ranging from habanero, white vanilla, roasted caramel, 60-90% dark chocolate.

It rained for the rest of the night, but we still made the most of the night by finishing it off with some Scottish dancing taught by our fabulous mentor Ryan. The group left sweaty, tired, satisfied, and definitely ready for bed.

We had a long but very productive day!

Stay tuned for more adventure.

BLOG POST FOR JULY 12

Hi family and friends,

Today we stared off with breakfast, which was French toast and gallo pinto! After that, each group headed of to our fourth day of work at our service sites. After lunch, we traveled to the local town of Rio Seco where we learned to make Bunuelos, a traditional Costa Rican snack made with fried corn and cheese with honey syrup along with a traditional sweet drink called Agua Dulce. We also participated in various team building games that brought us closer together as a group. During our free time, many of us enjoyed a swim in the pool while listening to music. We continued our evening with dinner followed by a thought-provoking debate about sea turtle conservation and the effects it’s has on the Costa Rican economy. After our mentally engaging debate, each student went off to bed for a well-deserved sleep. Tomorrow we will have our last day of service and will be looking forward to beach Olympics. Look forward to seeing you all in three days and telling you all about our fun adventure here in Costa Rica.

Leaders of the Day,

Sabrina, Mila, Ellie, Pearl W, Andy, Zander, Aine, and Joshua

BLOG POST FOR JULY 13

Leaders of the day: Afton, Arden, Eli, Jacob, Lila, Eddie, Sophia, Sienna

We had another great day in Costa Rica. It was filled with service, great food, and fun activities throughout the day. Today was beach side Olympics and our last day of service!

The blue flag service group placed more awareness raising signs on the beach to protect them and more posts to create parking lots. Then, we picked up micro plastics on the beach!

The Guanacaste water center learned about the importance of sustainable water usage and continued planting experimental “plant cookies.”

At the GEA, the group learned about the importance of the bio diverse mangrove ecosystem, ecotourism, and they also went to avellanas beach and picked up micro plastics.

At Verdi azul, the turtle hatchery, they continued the hatchery building of turtle nests. They also beat the previous record of a hole dug and completed in 15 minutes, with a new record of 12 minutes.

At Uniendo Comunidades, the group finished painting the mural and creating different signs to raise awareness about the importance of sustainable ecological procedures.

After service and a wonderful lunch of arroz con pollo y Ensalada, we had the beach side Olympics where we played Rock Paper Scissors tag and a water cup relay. It was filled with a lot of fun competition but unfortunately cut short due to thunder and lightning.

Finally, we had a meaningful mentor group session about personal and group life goals using the SMART technique: Sustainable, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timeable.

While we are sad that tomorrow is our last day, we are beyond excited to go on the catamaran trip before the talent show.

Hasta mañana!

June 8, 2022 by Ashley Welter

Costa Rica: Beachside Service Adventure (June 24 – July 3, 2022)

PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM

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

Here are a few things you can expect:

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.
Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
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

Click here to jump down to the most recent posts!

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 24

Students safely got to their homebase at Beachside Service Adventure! We are looking forward to unplugging and spending time on the beautiful beaches of Guanacaste. Once students arrived on homebase, students began to unpack and spend some time enjoying homebase and our first, dry sunset in almost two weeks!

For dinner this evening, students ate casados. A famous dish of Costa Rica with rice, beans, and salad. Students were also able to meet all of their roommates, spend time with mentors during mentor time, and establish connections with one another during dinner. We are excited to get programming started tomorrow as we begin our orientation and hit the ball rolling on Sunday for our first Adventure Day of the session!

Update: here is a photo of all the students at home base! Stay tuned for more blog posts coming soon!

-Joselin (GLA Staff)

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 25

Today was our first full day in Playa Junquillal at our Beachside Service Adventure program! We started the day off with a delicious and traditional Costa Rican breakfast called Gallo Pinto. Although the weather was pretty rainy today, we still got to visit the beach right next door to our home base for a while and discover what it has to offer! It is a beautiful black sand beach with tons of cool shells and lots of space to play beach games!

After breakfast we started our program Orientation. During Orientation we learned all about what the next 8 days have in store! We also learned more about GLA, Costa Rica, and the service projects that we will be starting on Monday. We also learned more about each other by doing some active icebreakers and games with the leadership team. We finished the day by having some free time and a yummy dinner! We did our first leadership activity with our mentor groups and learned more about our personal values and how to identify them. The night wrapped up with some tech time to touch base with our families and friends and then a bit more free time to wind down. We are excited for our adventure day tomorrow going zip lining and tubing! Stay tuned for what’s next…

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 26

Our first adventure day was full of fun and risk taking. With a fun energetic wake up call from our Mentor Greta, we started off with a delicious breakfast. Then heading out on the bus, our first activity was zip lining. Through the beautiful trees and rivers with some additional rock climbing. Then we headed out to a sight seeing and captured photos of the view. We had a delicious lunch buffet, before heading out to the waterfall where we walked to and swam. From there we took the bus to head to tubing. We took tubes through a 5 kilometer river with strong currents and fun. We ended out the day with a yummy dinner and discussing our services for tomorrow and talked about our amazing day. -Alex

Today was a great day everybody enjoyed it so much including me. It started off with some really great empanadas and fruit loops, shortly after we hopped on the bus taken to a beautiful zip line the best lines were in the canyon over the water, after this we got to go to a cascading beautiful waterfall and swam underneath it next we went down some rough rapids in a tube. SO MUCH FUN!-Sawyer

The first adventure day was so much fun! Everybody woke up early and we embarked on a long two hour drive to the site. We started off with zip lining in the morning and tubing in the evening. We had lunch in between the two adventures and it was so delicious. Overall this day was so incredible and I am very excited for future activities! – Annalise

Today was an adventure day and we went zip lining and tubing. I went zip lining twice and it’s was so much fun. The drive there with everyone was so much fun getting to know everyone, listening to music and just being in such a positive welcoming environment. It was such an amazing day and I made so many amazing memories!-Neve

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 28

Today, the service projects underwent new developments in their work. The volunteers at Verdiazul replaced two contaminated nests in under 30 minutes which is was a big accomplishment for them. They then went to the warehouse to clean the nets used for the hatchery nests. The work done at the hatchery is very important to the turtles as their natural habitat is at risk due to climate change.

At the water treatment & agriculture department the volunteers faced introductions to the projects that would be have to be done. They also were introduced to necessary information and trivia based of water, biodiversity, and vegetation. Afterwards they started their reforestation efforts by preparing soil bags for seed growth. The act included the shoveling, stuffing, and transferring of dirt into small black bags that had to be folded. There was also the preparation of a fresh liquid concoction ripe with microorganisms that would be used to enable fertilization. There was also a surprising amount of cleaning some materials like buckets.

At GEA, the beach cleanup service, we drove down to a beach to make signs and pick up trash. We began by sanding the wood planks down to get them ready to paint. Then, we wrote messages such as pick up trash or protect the beach. Once we finished the signs, we walked throughout the beach and picked up trash. We learned about micro plastics and how they affect the animals and environment.

Today At UC we painted signs that spread awareness about pollution, global warming, and the importance of helping the environment. Afterwards we drove to am area near by to participate in a Rally Day. We got to play fun games like quittage and did a t–Shirt relay. We also got the opportunity to visit some locals and learned how to make homemade corn tortillas in a cooking class. And we played soccer and volleyball in the rain. We ended the day with delicious pasta and garlic bread. Everyone put in a ton of effort in their service group and through enjoyed themselves in the rally day festivities.

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 29

Written by Eleanor S, Maggie D, Connor W, Saby IB😊

Waking up to the sounds of shrieking birds and monkeys really isn’t as bad as it seems. There are many benefits to it actually. You’ll never need an alarm clock again as long as you’re okay with waking up when the sun rises. Today, the best one was being woken up for Twoga with one of the mentors Brian. Honestly a brutal morning workout wasn’t what I was expecting when I heard it was a combination of dancing and yoga. But I was drenched, sore, and eager to learn more by the end of the session. It was really great to see the variety of people attend a class like that. That was only the beginning of another fantastic day.

After our morning workout, we all attended a great breakfast of French toast and fruit, which was amazing as always. Next, we all separated into our rewarding yet difficult service groups with the ultimate goal of helping the community. One of the most important factors of the Costa Rican community is the health and beautification of the local beaches. Two of the service groups today focused on the removal of trash and micro-plastics from the beaches in order to benefit the marine life and local residents. Another service group worked closely with the sea turtle hatchery with the goal to clean the nests of future baby sea turtles. Lastly, the service group working with the Guanacaste Water Center planted experimental fruit trees which are very beneficial for the growing ecosystems in Costa Rica.

After our service groups, and a lunch of crispy chicken tenders, we were split into teams based on our service groups to compete in the Beach Olympics. The energy and excitement was through the roof, with each team dressing up and representing their team color. The teams played in four different games; they were all amazing. We are now shattering the silence of the Costa Rican night with a dance party by the pool.

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 30

Written by Griffin Benson, Diego Irizarry, Kennedy Martinez, Sofia Larranaga

Today We woke up and participated in yoga with one of the mentors. After this We proceeded to wake up everyone around camp as instructed to do as a leader of the day responsibility, we did this by singing good morning songs. We ate breakfast and then headed to our service sites where we painted tables with unique designs for tourists eating close to the beach. Some groups walked along the beach and other areas collecting micro plastics and other trashes to protect the environment. We then came back, ate lunch, and headed off to our evening activity, the chocolate factory. At the chocolate factory we tasted different types of chocolates and learned about the history of chocolate making and the process of doing so. Afterwards we had a bus ride home where we all sang songs and had fun. We ate dinner, then our day was concluded by a simulated discussion activity.

BLOG POST FOR JULY 1

Written by Charley M, Cayden, Amelia, Sophia N, and Dylan

Hey Family and friends. We started day 9 with a early wake up call and a delicious breakfast consisting of oatmeal, fresh fruit and banana bread. After breakfast we hopped on the buses for 40 minutes to the marina where we got on the catamaran. On the boat we swam, tanned, and drank virgin strawberry daiquiris. We enjoyed jumping off the boat and swimming to a near by island, followed by lunch made by the crew of the catamaran. Our boat trip had come to an end and the bus ride back was full of energy which we transferred to our Costa Rican dance lesson. Dance artist came to home base and taught us how to make our hips not lie like Shakira. After dancing we started to wind down the afternoon with our daily chow circle and we got to see a family of spider monkeys hanging in the tree next to the ranchito. After dinner was served, we all walked to the beach and watched the sunset. We gathered again for our final OMG workshop and finally we ended the day with a group game of uno and got ready for bed.

June 8, 2022 by Ashley Welter

Costa Rica: Beachside Service Adventure (June 12 – June 21, 2022)

PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM

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

Here are a few things you can expect:

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.
Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
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

Click here to jump down to the most recent posts!

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 12

Hello families!

Students safely got to their homebase at Beachside Service Adventure! We are looking forward to unplugging and spending time on the beautiful beaches of Guanacaste, eating casados at our on site restaurant, and establishing connections with the local community as we immerse ourselves in the environmental developments that are ongoing in Guanacaste!

We got to homebase this afternoon and were unfortunately met with rain, but we were able to have a beautiful family style dinner of casado, a famous dish of Costa Rica with rice, beans, and salad, connect in mentor groups, and most importantly, get some sleep! We are excited to get programming started tomorrow as we begin our in country orientation.

Sincerely,
GLA Beachside Team

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 13

We also learned more about GLA, Costa Rica, and the service projects that we will be starting tomorrow. We also learned more about each other by doing some active icebreakers and games with the leadership team. We finished the day by having some more free time and a yummy dinner! We did our first leadership activity with our mentor groups and learned more about our personal values and how to identify them.

The night wrapped up with some tech time to touch base with our families and friends and then a bit more free time to wind down. We are excited for our first day of service tomorrow and to go to the beach again in the afternoon! Stay tuned for whats next…

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 14

Written by Layla, Alex, José & Owen

During todays service trip we went to a turtle hatchery called Verdiazul and learned about turtles as well as replaced two turtle nests. It was hard work but in the end I felt accomplished knowing that when the time comes the turtles will be able to safely hatch. On an other note I was a leader of the day, I woke my friends up and I will tell the cabins when lights out is, it was a interesting experience and I felt honored that I was chosen as one of the first leaders of the day. – Owen

Today I met a lot of new people in the local community. We started out by collecting trash around the road and then painted plastic bottles to use as plant holders in the kindergarten school. Then we came back ate lunch and went to the beach. We spent a couple of hours swimming in the ocean and the waves were super fun. Then we listened to a very sweet guest speaker and then ate dinner. To end the night we meet with our mentor groups!! -Layla

For todays service trip we went to a public school from 1st to 6th grade. We went 800m up a road to then go down the same road picking up trash. After we returned to the school and took a break to then divide in two groups of five. One group would either paint a bathroom or clean a garden by taking the weeds out. The other group would paint slogans in Spanish in some pieces of wood. After finishing everything, we cleaned up and played soccer and took some photos. – Jose

Today at service I went to a small community down the road and I helped clean the trash out of their gardens, rivers and roads. I met a lot of locals while cleaning around the river, I also met a lot of locals who started the initiative to clean out their community which I practiced my Spanish with. After cleaning up the trash and sorting it we brought it all up the hill and ate a fresh snack consisting of watermelon, bananas and pineapple. We then painted the trash in all sorts of ways and played soccer with some local kids. This service trip was very impactful to me because it gave me perspective on how lucky I am to be able to support the community project.- Alex Di Florio

Stay tuned for tomorrow adventures!

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 15

Hello friends and family from beautiful Junquillal Costa Rica! Today my group, the Guanacaste Water Center, visited a local elementary school and put up the frame of a greenhouse and also planted various natural barrier plants to protect the schools garden from the neighbor’s chickens. We had the opportunity to work alongside a few of the students and staff of the school which was a special moment to connect with the local community. In the afternoon, we had Rally Day where we played various games and even got to do a cooking class (my favorite) to learn how to make fresh corn tortillas with just corn and water. We are all enjoying our service projects and looking forward to continuing our work and also the adventure day Friday and chocolate making workshop tomorrow!

– By Jack Wheeler

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 16

During todays service with Groupo Ecologico Avellamas many of us painted signs to bring awareness to the litter in the community and encouraging others to help. Others helped clean up the garden in the public school and painted a bathroom inside of the school. We all are happy to be supporting the community and making a difference. We hope future generations will be the first to make a change in our world and stop the overwhelming amounts of litter in communities.

The Uniendo Comunidades and Verdiazul groups did beach cleanups along about a kilometer of the beach and counted everything that was collected. We put the information onto a website that created a national total of trash on the beach to raise awareness about pollution.
The Guanacaste Water Center group continued to make our garden and we also started making compost bins to give to locals to spread awareness about composting to the community.
After service we got to enjoy the beautiful beach near the school.

Later in the day all of us at GLA went to a chocolate factory and had the opportunity to learn about chocolates history and try various flavors of chocolate while also learning about the process of making chocolate. It was a great learning experience and we all tons of fun :).

Before dinner some of the group ventured to the beach to enjoy the sunset near the water. The sunset was somewhat covered by the clouds, but It was still very pretty. Many people took photos and we even got a big group picture with everyone who went.

Yeahyuhhhhh: to Dad from Emmi (P.S love and miss you)

Love you-Shamus

See you soon 😘💕-ruby

To mom and dad, I love you. Thank you for letting me have the experience. – Clara

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 17

Dear GLA family,

Yesterday, we had our first adventure day. We started the day off with a beautiful ziplining course through the beautiful Costa Rican jungle. The course went through a canyon filled with waterfalls and amazing views. We then walked to an overlook of the mountains and we even saw a volcano! After a quick but very delicious lunch, we walked to a special surprise. The mentors took us to a beautiful waterfall where we all got to swim in the refreshing water. Wasting no time we headed straight to tubing.

We each had our own expectations of the tubing. Some thought it would be large rafts going through rapids, others thought it would be floating down a lazy river. None of us expected that it would be the perfect combination. We each had our own tubes and floated through some pretty crazy rapids. Some of us even fell out of our tube and got right back to enjoy the ride. It was overall a very eventful day and to close it off perfectly, on the bus ride home we stopped for snacks, souvenirs, and ice cream! We were all so hungry and it was the best way to sum up a truly incredible day. We are all so grateful that we get to experience this program and all that it has to offer.

From Leaders of the Day,
coco
Giacomo
Alex P
Jossie

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 18

Today was AWESOME! I started my day with service groups where I painted multiple signs for the community. Once I got to the home base I prepared for the beach!!! It was super fun and we got to swim. After this we got ready for dance class. This was the best experience EVER. I realized that I cannot dance as good as I thought… but it was super fun. We ended the night with a government debate/activity and I was chosen to be on the government. Being in charge of everyone was spectacular and taught me real fundamentals about how to be a super, awesome, fun leader! This trip is the BEST thing I’ve ever done… YAY!

-HI mom and dad… NAOMI.

Breakfast was so good this morning, I drank Costa Rican coffee that I really liked and the had energy for the service groups. During service I walked along the beach and picked up trash, my group did so good and we were able to fill up many trash bags. Then we got back to the home base and left for the beach. It was a white sand beach and I was able to swim and tan with people from my room. After the beach we had to prepare for a dance class that taught samba and Costa Rican dances. It was a great day overall and I hope to have more like it.

-Miss you mom and dad, Maria M

Today was packed full of so many activities with everything from service to dancing! In the morning, my service group worked hard planting saplings to help aid reforestation efforts. After a lunch break and quick power nap we were ready to hit the beach! I had so much fun swimming, tanning, and enjoying the sun (and rain) with my friends. After enjoying the surf and sand, we returned to home base where our guest dance instructors were waiting to teach us some moves! We learned everything from warm ups to traditional Costa Rican and Brazilian dances. Today was full of so many adventures and I can’t wait to make the most of the rest of my days on this incredible trip!

-Hi mom and dad… Monica K.

After a great breakfast, I went to the beach to do my community service. I work at a turtle hatchery where my group and I remove all of the bacteria filled sand, replacing it with clean sand. This process takes a long time, but it allows for thousands of baby turtles to hatch healthily and safely make it to the ocean. After service, we went back to homebase for lunch and got changed for the beach. The beach was beautiful and the water was warm with great waves for bodysurfing. Then we went to dance lessons where we learned traditional Costa Rican dances. Today was packed with activities I loved and like most days here, I walked about 20,000 steps.

– Miss you Mom…Phoebe M.

BLOG POST FOR JUNE 20

Hello families!

This final blog post did not go through on the original date. But we’ve just received it and still wanted to share it with you. -GLA HQ

We have officially closed out the summer here at Beachside! Students ended their final day welcoming local partners from their services sites that were showcasing their local art, performing in drum circles with folks playing the marimbas, and participating in the first Beachside Talent Show of the summer! We had multiple performances for the night and the winners of the talent show were Jose, Joshua, Julien, and Koi as they choreographed an entire dance and performed for everyone in the audience! One of the great aspects of the night was that our judges were members of the local community!

Because of the connections students have made volunteering, students and partners that we worked with over the last ten days, wanted to be in attendance. Overall, students had a great trip and got to complete the night with a dance party with the family at homebase, the local community, and one another before departing Junquillal and heading back home.