Say What?! A Guide to NSA Lingo


  • EE = Experiential Education = The department that facilitates student life on campus and off campus. 
  • PG = Personal Growth 
  • We use the term PG instead of therapy to help us remember that we are growing all throughout our lives and the goal is learning more than it is to “do therapy” or “fix” something. 
  • PROPS = The list of  21st Century skills outlined in Supportive Immersion Theory. These are the skills and characteristics that NSA develops and assesses. Proactive Purposefulness (Proactive)
  • Resilience 
  • Open Collaboration (Openness)
  • Problem-Solving Creativity (Problem-Solving)
  • Self-Governance
  • PROPS team = a team consisting of your child's therapist, academic advisor, and 1-2 EE mentors who1) meet with them at the beginning of the quarter to articulate the Quarterly Goal Plan,
  • 2) meet with them weekly to assess & document progress & come up with new strategies or steps to help them meet goals,
  • 3) participate in Community Councils to facilitate feedback and progression through Base, Climb and Summit, and 
  • 4) give feedback on HLPs, goal plans, and transition planning documents. 
  • CC or CCM = Community Council or Community Council MeetingA CC is a confidential, safe, supportive group meeting with a student, 2-3 peers, an elder, and the student’s advising team to process a situation, give feedback, and creatively problem-solve and strategize to support further growth. Typically, the CCM makes decisions or recommendations to the student for their future.


Program Challenges

  • Base = the orientation phase of NSA
  • This represents "base camp" where students get oriented to the journey, make plans for the adventure, and acquire the tools and resources they will need for the trip. NSA helps students integrate into Costa Rican culture & NSA culture as well as work on various goal-setting plans (HLP & HTP) with their PROPS team (advising team). 
  • ​Climb = the "post-orientation / pre-transition" period where most of the work takes place! 
  • ​This represents the middle portion of the NSA journey. 
  • Summit = the transition phase of NSA. 
  • ​This represents the final transitioning phase of the NSA journey. 
  • Compass Challenge = when a student needs a "time out" to dive deeper into therapeutic work, their PROPS team might put them on Compass.
  • This often happens when a student is struggling, has had several lapses, and/or needs to slow things down to focus on one area of attention for a while. The PROPS team may choose to increase time in therapeutic activities (sessions, groups, etc.) and may decide to decrease time spent in less therapeutic activities (electronics, phone use, etc.). It is all individualized based on the situation and student. 
  • Honors Status
  • Honors Status is awarded to students who model doing more than the bare minimum to self-govern and achieve their responsibilities in academics, PG, and EE. 



Integrated Goal Setting and Assessment Documents

  • HLP = Healthy Lifestyle Plan
  • ​The Healthy Lifestyle Plan uses our "Green - Yellow - Red" structure to visualize and articulate what it looks like
  • ​when we are being our best self and living our best life (Green),
  • when we are slipping a bit (Yellow), and
  • when we have relapsed into the person we don't want to be with unhealthy patterns and behaviors (Red). 
  • The yellow zone requires a list of strategies that the student will implement if starting to slip.
  • The red zone requires strategies & supports (or interventions) needed from others to help us get back on track and out of the hole we're digging ourselves. 
  • There are multiple domains in the HLP (physical health, emotional well-being, academics, ethics, relationships, autonomy, productivity, sense of community and spirituality) that are visualized and articulated.


  • HTP = Healthy Technology Plan
  • ​The Healthy Tech Plan is a specific part of the HLP that is set up in the familiar "Green - Yellow - Red zones" to define
  • Who,
  • What,
  • When & Where,
  • How, &
  • Why students are using internet in healthy (green) or not so healthy (red) ways.
  • The plan also outlines strategies or supports needed when slipping into the yellow zone or fully relapsed into the red zone. 
  • The HTP is accompanied by a Base Seminar about the science behind healthy moderation of technology use.
  • The HTP needs approval from the PROPS team and an elder before the student is allowed to begin using "tech blocks" for personal internet use.





See this short video about the WWWWHW structure and research conclusions: