To Lindsey Price, it was the “experience of a lifetime.”
Price was among the group of Campbell University rising junior Teaching Fellows who traveled to Costa Rica in May for their Study Abroad experience.
The trip offered a unique collaboration between Campbell’s School of Education and Biology Department and the Instituto de Cultura y Lengua Costarricense (Costa Rican Culture and Language Institute) in Alajuela, Costa Rica.
“It was truly eye opening,” said Price. “I gained perspective on the world to better perceive the value in other cultures. I can now both acknowledge and appreciate the diversity on our planet, in our country and soon, in my own classroom.”
During their almost three-week experience, the students received instruction in Spanish and learned about the Costa Rican culture and cuisine, flora and fauna, industries (such as coffee and sugar), conservation efforts and schools. They also completed their cohort special topics science course, “The Ecology of Costa Rica,” which began in the spring semester.
The course, specifically designed for Teaching Fellows, highlighted the vast biodiversity of Costa Rica.
“My favorite part was experiencing a beautiful country and being completely immersed in the culture,” said student Blake Taylor.
ICLC provided four hours of intensive instruction in Spanish for 10 days with no more than five students per class. They identified the family each Fellow lived with while in Costa Rica and coordinated the travel according to the director’s request.
Madison Helman noted the importance of the living with a family while there.
“I particularly enjoyed the home-stay aspect of the trip,” Helman said. “It was fascinating to be completely immersed in another culture and experience not only the ‘tourist’ aspects of the Costa Rica but also the everyday life of normal family.”
Every year, the travel is different based on the emphasis of the biology professor teaching the Ecology class. This year, the accompanying professor was Dr. Michael Larsen, Chairman of the Biology Department. Fellows first visited INBIOparkque, the National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica, dedicated to scientific research and highlighting CR’s rich biological diversity.
Some of the areas visited by Fellows were the cloud forest in Monteverde, the Pacific Coast at Jaco, the rain forest of Manuel Antonio, the dry forest of Palo Verde and the Paz Volcano. The Fellows made observations of birds, plants and mammals throughout the country and compared Costa Rican schools and their educational system to schools in the United States.
According to Dr. Carol Maidon, Campbell Teaching Fellows Director, the most important thing the Fellows experienced was the challenge of not being fluent in the language of the country in which they resided.
“This encounter not only enhanced their multicultural understanding of another country,” Maidon said. “It provided a new perspective on the challenges students with English as a second language face within our schools — particularly important as Spanish is the second language in our schools today.”
In addition to the cultural aspects, the Fellows also learned to face other challenges when presented with additional activities, such as zip lining and walking on suspension bridges in the canopy and hiking in the Costa Rican mountains and jungles.
“Going to Costa Rica was the most terrifying and exhilarating adventure of my life,” summed up Quinn Bajorek. “On one hand, I was thousands of miles away from home in a place where I could not speak the language, living with complete strangers and coming into contact with bugs the size of my camera. On the other hand, I was exploring a foreign country with some of my best friends, zip-lining through the rainforest, hiking up volcanoes and eating some of the best food I have ever tasted. From the experience, I learned that sometimes you have to take risks and be a little uncomfortable if you really want to grow.”
STORY: Courtesy of Carol Maidon
PHOTO: The Teaching Fellows gather at the church in Gracia, Costa Rica. The church is made of metal because their wooden church burned to the ground. Pictured are (front row, from left to right) Quinn Bajorek, Colby Flinchum, Courtney Lockamy, Lindsey Price, John Mark Magee, Director Dr. Carol Maidon, (second row) Madison Helman, Leslie Peele, Anna Strickland, Kellany Jones, Molly Trexler, Tamara Day, (back row) David Cassady, Jack Della Rosa, Blake Taylor, Brittany Bowen and Nicole Bunch.