Monteverde
MONTEVERDE, Costa Rica
"Pura vida, mae."
– Costa Rican philosophy
Students learned advocacy by studying the success of Kony Project AdvocacyFor 4 weeks the grade 10 students and I trekked through the jungles of Costa Rica learning about geology, biodiversity, and culture. Before the expedition, students were front-loaded with the skills necessary to complete 2012, and applied those advocacy skills to a project of their choosing related to our expedition. On expedition, students chose a problem worth advocating for, developed the proposal and pitched it to a panel of field experts at the University of Georgia in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Projects ranged from protecting endangered species of birds to hydroponic gardening.
One student project took ideas learned in Costa Rica and applied them to the student's home city of Capetown South Africa. Check out Jonah's Urban Agriculture South Africa website prototype.
The IB students lived on the beautiful Monteverde campus of the University of Georgia. Most classes were held outside, and a wide range of science and Spanish-language based programming were arranged. While on campus, the grade 11 anthropology students filmed a spoof on the show the Bachelor to demonstrate thier understadnings of marriage and kinship.
"Costa Rica, with its tourist-based economy and lack of a national army, has focused on keeping safe its beaches, parks and other public draws. It is one if the safest countries in Central America based on the number of homicides."
Laura Chinchilla