Students transformed the house at Monte Sky into a museum exhibit to teach about the world's major biomes. At the Pacuare River Camp, students spoke with local river guides about President Luis Guillermo Solís' recent decision to ban hydroelectric dams on the river for the next twenty-five years. The presidential decree, made after decades of community opposition to dam construction, was an excellent real-life example of the Aventura's personal growth theme of community impacts.
This quarter's Cloud Forest Aventura cohort was a particularly tight-knit group. With only four students and three staff members, the group made record time hiking from our campsite at Alto del Roble to Monte Sky.
Students transformed the house at Monte Sky into a museum exhibit to teach about the world's major biomes. At the Pacuare River Camp, students spoke with local river guides about President Luis Guillermo Solís' recent decision to ban hydroelectric dams on the river for the next twenty-five years. The presidential decree, made after decades of community opposition to dam construction, was an excellent real-life example of the Aventura's personal growth theme of community impacts.
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Between courses of the feast, students engaged in (safe) wrestling matches, noodle-sword duels, and gave their teams rousing speeches to galvanize them in competition. The students should be commended for taking it upon themselves to organize and host healthy, fun activities – and we hope to see more in the future!
As we begin the first week of March, more college decisions are coming in for our seniors at New Summit Academy. All seniors apply to a range of schools, including a core list, a fallback school where they know they will be accepted, as well as a handful of “reach” schools – where acceptance is a longshot but always a possibility. Of the 33 responses students have received thus far, 94% of those responses have been acceptances, and the two which weren’t are waitlist decisions – so they might turn out to be acceptances as well. Just as encouraging as our students’ phenomenal acceptance rates are the merit scholarships being awarded. With many responses still pending, our students have been offered a total of $356,500 in scholarships so far! One scholarship was even awarded to a student for “having broader cultural perspectives” – a sure nod to his unique Costa Rica experiences. Students, families and staff can all look forward to even more exciting college news in the coming months! As New Summit Academy’s midterm week came to a close, the entire Academic faculty and student body turned the final day before Aventura into a unique learning experience. Students traveled in four groups – based on their cohort from the Global Citizenship Foundation Course – to different sites in the Central Valley to explore real-life situations where the facets of Global Citizenship are being promoted. Newer students traveled with Adam, our Global Citizenship coordinator and organizer of the event, to Costa Rica’s University for Peace. At this United Nations-mandated higher education institution, the students performed community service, met with current UPeace students to exchange ideas about Global Citizenship, and engaged in a workshop on the Earth Charter. The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. The Earth Charter International Secretariat is located at the UPEACE Campus in Costa Rica. A second group of students – delving into the topic of sustainable development – traveled to a nearby organic farm. Here they learned from the farm manager – a young man who is transforming the “traditional” methods of farming using chemicals and genetically-modified foods. Students learned about his efforts to reintroduce ancient farming techniques using methods of permaculture, natural pesticides and organic fertilizers. Students also pitched in, helping to build planter boxes for future crops. The third group traveled to the office of The Tico Times, the largest English-language newspaper in Central America. With the goal of exploring ideas of social justice and digital citizenship (the Times went 100% digital in recent years), students interviewed journalists at the newspaper about recent articles. Students were also excited to learn that this respected newspaper was started in the mid-1950’s by young students at the very same high school where they take their SAT and ACT exams! NSA’s oldest students traveled to the Puriscal Valley reserve of Quitirrisi – home to the indigenous Guetares people. Students learned that the Guetares were once the largest, most dominant group of natives in Costa Rica, but that the Spanish conquest had diminished their population from tens of thousands to a mere 1,800 today. The son of the chief welcomed students into the village, and gave them an oral history of the people. Students then gathered firewood for a traditional spiritual cleansing ceremony, before working together with the chief’s son to clean the streets of litter. Each group returned to campus with stories to tell about their Global Citizenship experiences. The Academic faculty plan to make these Field Learning trips a tradition for each mid-quarter week, which will only help enrich our one-of-a-kind program! |
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