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Sunday July 8, 2018
Welcome to Costa Rica!!
Yesterday was a successful arrival day! We spent the day relaxing at our hotel and getting to know
each other. Now that every student is here safe, we are so excited to start sharing this experience! Things today are off to a great start, and we are headed to Bahia Ballena! As we say in Costa Rica…Pura vida!
Hannah Calloway, International Director
Tuesday July 10, 2018
Hello world, parents, and future students. We made it to Costa Rica and are safe and sound at home base! It was easy making friends thanks to the help of our awesome counselors. The food is amazing and don’t even get me started on the fruit, incredible. The sights are awesome and already on the fourth day we’ve done a ton of helpful community service. Also a lot of us learned to surf which was insanely fun! The trip is just getting started and I know it’ll be a great one, we’ll keep you updated!
-Written by Catie Rose McDaniel
-Photos by Bailey and Tori
Wednesday July 11, 2018
Today was amazing not only did we do four hours of service, but we also learned to salsa! The entire day was fun, while doing service, we all swapped roles and kept things interesting. It felt really good to help out and really give back to the community. Salsa was super cool and our instructor was super helpful. Talk to you soon!
-Written by Catie Rose
Friday July 13, 2018
Today we did a lot of service and it was rejuvenating. It felt so amazing to really be helping out, we all got to plant trees! After the work, we also got to play around in the river to cool off after our hard work. Everyone had an amazing time, with all the heat, the cool water was the best feeling ever! Talk to you soon.
-by Catie Rose
Saturday July 14, 2018
Today we took boats to Corcovado National Park, which hosts 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity! The park was amazing and we saw all sorts of wildlife. Bugs, mammals, reptiles, and birds of all sorts of colors. We also looked at the trees, we learned that one tree can host many different ecosystems of many different species. This is one of the reasons we are doing what we are doing, to protect these ecosystems, and see their beauty.
– Catie Rose
Sunday July 15, 2018
We walked to the whale tail of Bahia Ballena, and swam in the cool water for a bit. Only during low tide the whale tail is above water, so it was really awesome to be there and see it. We also went out into the community to play soccer with some of the local kids. I’m not good at soccer, but watching these kids play was amazing, I couldn’t keep up. These tiny kids were crazy strong and fast, they were amazing and it was humbling to play with them. We split up to play with them so the teams were mixed which just made everything better. It was incredibly fun to play with these kids and I honestly wish I could do it again.
Written by catie rose
Photos by Victoria Smith and Bailey Koch
It was with great sadness that we said goodbye to everyone today. Looking back over the last two weeks we remember all of the fun, laughter and learning we experienced. The friendships made, the lessons learned and the trees planted will all continue on after this trip. The impact on each and everyone one of us will also continue to impact us in ways visible and invisible. We look forward to hearing of all the amazing change these young leaders will bring back to schools, families and communities. Everyone has departed safely and in good spirits, despite a dew goodbye tears.
