Costa Rican learning expedition meant to inspire
Admin, teachers plan for trips in multitude of different ways.
Photos courtesy of AGS
The sophomores learn about agriculture at Earth University. This was one of the activities that they did while they stayed in Costa Rica. “We were learning about their agriculture system,” William Jameson George said.
The AGS Costa Rica trip takes a lot of pre-planning and hard work from administrators and teachers.
“Teachers prepare in different fashions,” AGS administrator Adriana Longoria said. “They teach different topics in their classes like waste management and recycling.”
The Costa Rica trip has been around for a long time and the admin team believes it’s something that sophomore teachers know like the back of their hands.
“They also prepare the students by telling them what to pack and what kind of things they are going to be doing so the students don’t go in blind,” Longoria said.
There are lots of lessons that the teachers have crafted involving the things that they are going to see and do in Costa Rica so students have a clear idea about what the week will hold.
“They talk about rainforests, oxygen levels, and sustainable farming so [students] can study these topics and later go to see it first hand,” Longoria said.
Teachers and the administrative team have to make sure that everything is going according to plan, that students don’t get lost, and that all their scheduled activities are on track and on time.
“We prepare by taking medicine kits, checking with the University, and all of our reservations,” Longoria said.
Because people take things for granted in life, this trip aims to change the way that people think about their own privileges and lives.
Students who are interested in learning about the different cultures have the opportunity that many others at different schools might not get to experience.
“Students get to know Costa Rican culture and their way of life over there. Students’ eyes will be open to other cultures around them,” Longoria said.
On the field trip, teachers and administrators planned activities for the students to do.
“Students get to go into Finka families’ lives and spend two different days working with sustainable living on farms,” Longoria said.
The nation overall isn’t very wealthy so [the locals] try to help each other as best they can.
“They have different things, different crops that they might grow there, and then that helps them out with the community,” Longoria said.
Traveling can be fun and educational and a good opportunity to open the AGS sophomores’ eyes and take notice of the outside world.
“Lots of students end up going back to Costa Rica with their families or later on in life because they fell in love with it,” Longoria said.
