Experiential Education Personal Ecology treks (AVENTURAS) are an integral part of the education New Summit Academy of Costa Rica provides.  

Why?
By challenging students to take healthy risks doing things they have never done before, students learn to support each other, empathize, and become a team to help each other through difficult times.  Once completed, students return to campus with a new-found sense of self-esteem, pride, and a realization that they are stronger.

Who?
All students participate in treks.  Staff members are also chosen to participate in the adventure trips based on the academic and therapeutic objectives set for the trip. Students experience service learning when they help set up and follow through on project goals.

When?
Mid-Quarter Integrated Aventuras:  At Midterm of every quarter, students and staff pack their backpacks and take off on a 4-6 day Costa Rican adventure.   Each trek has specific academic, therapeutic, and experiential education objectives.  Students trek their way through the four standard Aventuras:

1. Golfo Dulce Sea Kayaking Trek: Sea kayaking & camping with an academic inventory.   
2. Corcovado National Park Hiking & Camping Trek: Hiking & camping with an academic focus in forest ecology & a therapeutic focus in family diversity & dynamics.    
   
3. Cloud Forest / Rafting  Hiking, Camping & Rafting Trek: Hiking and camping with an academic focus in biomes & community diversity & a therapeutic focus on community dynamics and means of action.
   
4. Community Service Aventura: The group picks and plans a project that is meaningful to them, be it saving turtles or building a playground.
   
5. Mount Chirripo Climbing Trek: Climbing Chirripo summit with an academic focus on natural resource management and a therapeutic focus on independence and maintenance of success skills.
   

Recreational Aventuras: At the end of every quarter, students are offered a fun and educational recreational Aventura.  Be it a turtle-saving project, a scuba-diving trip, a hike through the rainforest to visit a shaman’s house, or some leisurely sport- fishing, students will be taking healthy risks and building confidence and skills by challenging themselves and each other to do things they have never done before.

Where?
From the diversity of flora and fauna in the Costa Rican rainforest to the brilliantly diverse ocean waters along the coast to the local coffee and banana plantations, Costa Rica offers a rich laboratory for learning and growing.

Examples:

• Swift Water Certification Course
  
• Wilderness First Responder Course
  
• Climbing Mount Chirripo
  
• Scuba Diving in Drake's Bay
  
• Touring Volcano Arenal & Volcanic Hot Springs
  
• Visiting Indigenous tribes near Puerto Viejo and many more!

 

 

 

After the first couple of months, all students participate in a weekly homestay experience. This is a first-hand look into Costa Rican family life.  Not only do these experiences facilitate using and practicing Spanish, they give the students valuable cultural experience.

Various families throughout the community welcome students into their homes to share a few hours every Sunday with their family.  Students eat dinner, play with the kids, walk through town, go grocery-shopping, or participate in any other typical activity in the daily life of a Costa Rican family. These loving families make our students feel more like sons rather than guests, and it can be one of the most impacting experiences of a young person’s life.

Students experience service learning when they help set up and follow through on project goals.

Examples of projects:

• Teaching swimming lessons to local kids
  
• Teaching English to local children
  
• Recycling
  
• Sea turtle conservation
  
• PenPal Program
  
• Building bus stops
  
• Painting local schools & clinics
  
• Building houses
  
• Library project
  
• Environmental Conservation Projects
  
• School beautification projects
  
• Habitat for Humanity Project
  
  

On the weekends, students can plan and sign up for various activities to:

• local sports events
  
• canopy tours
  
• nature hikes
  
• excursions to nearby beaches
  
• basketball or soccer tournaments
  
• trips to nearby towns for movies or shopping
  
• paintball
  
• swimming
  
• surfing trips
  
• local festivities, parades, etc.
  
• white-water rafting
  
• rock-climbing
  
• community service projects