New Summit Academy   Costa Rica
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • Apply
    • Fast Facts
    • Our Students
    • Our Team >
      • Founders & Directors
      • Admissions & Family Services
      • Academics
      • Personal Growth
      • Experiential Education
      • Administration
      • Operations
      • Four-Legged Friends
    • Our Outcomes
    • Our Story
    • Why Costa Rica?
    • Virtual Coaching >
      • Personal & Family Coaching
      • Virtual Academic Tutoring
      • Virtual College Guidance
    • Employment
    • Donate to Our Causes
  • Learn
    • Academic Approach
    • Classes
    • Graduation Requirements
    • Transcript Requests
    • College Guidance
  • Grow
    • The Unique NSA Approach
    • Planning Growth
    • Facilitating Growth
    • Assessing Growth
    • Family Involvement
  • Explore
    • Aventuras >
      • Recreational
      • Integrated
      • International
    • Service Learning
    • Homestay Program
    • Cultural Immersion
  • Live
    • Campus Tour
    • Clubs
    • Activities
    • Student Leadership
  • Create
    • Student Photography
    • Student Art
    • Photo Gallery
  • Blog
    • Staff Blog
    • Student Blog
  • Parents (Members)
    • Program Resources for Current Parents
    • Parent Coaching & Support Groups
    • Follow Up With Alumni

Cultural Immersion at NSA: Celebrating Costa Rica’s Independence Day!

9/15/2016

0 Comments

 
The month of September is a special time in Costa Rica, as proud Ticos celebrate gaining their independence from Spain on September 15th, 1821. Our Cultural Coordinator, Daisy, ensures that students take part in every aspect of this patriotic celebration.

Typical Breakfast Celebration

On the day before Independence Day, faculty and staff arrive to campus extra early to prepare a typical Costa Rican breakfast for our students. As students awoke to the sound of live marimba music, they found their teachers ready to serve them such traditional foods as gallo pinto, huevos rancheros, and handmade corn tortillas.

Staff (and some of our braver students) danced to classic Tico tunes, punctuated by “bombas” – short, comedic poems recited by everyone involved.

Picture
Picture

Making Faroles and Supporting a Local Elementary School 

Picture
On the evening before Independence Day, Costa Ricans celebrate the gathering of citizens by lantern light throughout Central America as the call for independence was raised in 1821.

Children fill the streets, carrying homemade “faroles” or lanterns in the colors of the Costa Rican flag for a magical parade.
NSA students traveled to a nearby small village called “Altos del Monte” to work with the students at a humble elementary school to construct their lanterns.

Our students then took part in the parade, and further supported the school’s yearly fundraiser by purchasing plates of traditional food.

Picture

September 15: Independence Day Parade

Picture
On the morning of Independence day, students traveled to the center of town to witness the culminating event of the yearly celebrations: the Independence Day parade. The streets of Atenas are closed off to automobile traffic to allow for crowds of locals (and our school) to line the sidewalks, cheering as grade school students march in choreographed formations, as high school marching bands fill the streets with song, competing with the sirens of firetrucks and police cars. And of course, since a theme of our students’ Costa Rican cultural immersion is food, we indulged in traditional street treats including granizados (imagine a snow cone covered in condensed milk), churros and the requisite meat-on-a-stick!


Many thanks to our Costa Rican community for including us in their Independence Day celebration, and to Daisy, for organizing such a rich series of experiences for our students.

Happy Independence Day, Costa Rica!
Picture
0 Comments

Mother's Day in Costa Rica - celebrating with our Tica moms!

9/1/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Mother’s Day is a national holiday in Costa Rica. To honor our Costa Rican surrogate  mothers, both staff moms and homestay mothers who provide our students with needed hugs and plates of delicious food, NSA holds an annual Mother’s Day Dinner.

This year, staff and homestay moms were treated to five-star service, receiving invitations to join students for a formal dinner on campus. While the gourmet meal was prepared by our chefs, our students did not sit idly by. NSA’s young gentlemen were each charged with hosting a different mother, serving and clearing her dishes, engaging her in conversation, and some brave students even hit the dance floor with their guests!

Many thanks to the Experiential Education team and to Daisy, our Cultural Coordinator, for organizing this wonderful event to recognize just how important our Costa Rican moms are to our community at NSA! 
Picture
0 Comments

Integrated Aventura Update

9/1/2016

0 Comments

 
New Summit Academy’s students and staff have just returned from an inspiring round of Integrated Aventuras: Community Service in the Osa Peninsula, kayaking the Golfo Dulce, and hiking through Corcovado National Park. Each Aventura – integrated with Experiential Education activities, engaging Academic classes, and Personal Growth work – challenges students to step outside of their comfort zone to develop important life skills while surrounded by the beauty of Costa Rica.
Below are some of the trip highlights.

Community Service Conservation Efforts

  • Working side-by-side with Osa Conservation in reforestation, self-sustaining permaculture, and organic farming projects
  • Collaborating with a local community to build a new sea turtle hatchery
  • Patrolling beaches at night to collect turtle eggs for safe hatching
  • Building trails for future visitors to make turtle-conservation efforts more possible
  • Growing closer as a community of Orientation and newer students, and bringing those new connections back to NSA’s campus
Picture
Picture

Golfo Dulce Kayak Aventura

  • Honing open-water kayak skills to paddle an average of a dozen kilometers per day on the gulf waters flanked by primary rainforest
  • Learning about tides, mangrove ecosystems, coral reefs, and watersheds in a spectacular “living classroom”
  • Being escorted on our journey by dolphins, sea turtles, schools of fish, and even sighting humpback whales
  • Setting and achieving a group goal of not allowing negativity to influence the sense of wonder experienced in such an extraordinary setting
Picture
Picture

Exploring Corcovado National Park

  • Holding classes in the middle of the rainforest which, based on student feedback, was a highlight of the trip
  • Spotting a baby white-collared peccary with its mother, dubbed the “cutest thing ever”
  • Sighting a massive crocodile feeding at the mouth of the Sirenas
0 Comments

    NSA Authors

    Blog authors may be students, staff, parents or colleagues. We're all-inclusive! Just enjoy!

    Categories

    All
    Academics
    Administration
    Aventuras
    College
    Cultural Immersion
    Experiential Education
    Global Citizenship
    Parental Advice
    Personal Growth
    Recreation
    Service
    Skill Building
    Staff Spotlight

    Archives

    May 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    June 2022
    March 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    RSS Feed

    View my profile on LinkedIn
Picture
This website was made by a collaborative effort between two students (SK and JA) and NSA staff.
​All pictures are real photographs taken from student experiences at NSA. Thank you for taking the time to peruse our site!
© Entire website is copyrighted property of New Summit Academy - Thank you for respecting our intellectual property!
Home
Learn
Grow
Explore
Live
Create
Apply
Copyright © 2005-present by Educacion Nueva Cumbre Internacional SA / dba New Summit Academy