Students were able to go on a trip to Costa Rica from April 11 to 18 to earn community service credits, Spanish teacher Emily Powell said. The trip served as an opportunity for students to learn about the human impact on the environment, Powell said.
“The volunteers from Milpitas, they hadn’t met each other before,” Powell said. “Most of them didn’t know each other, but they became pretty close on this trip. They also got to experience and see firsthand what things like consumerism and commercial practices and pesticides can do to the environment, things that we see every day.”
Sophomore Suha Shah relished the opportunity to be surrounded by the natural environment, she said. Shah also looked forward to the experience of doing farm work, Shah added.
“I was really excited because I really like natural places, especially places near a lot of wildlife and forests and oceans,” Shah said. “That made me pretty happy, also the fact that it was a service trip, and that I would get to work at a farm and get a totally different experience to do something of service to people in the environment was something that I found really appealing.”
One notable aspect about Costa Ricans, specifically in the Providencia de Dota village, was their sociable and welcoming personality towards others, Shah said.
“Everyone was interconnected there,” Shah said.” “Everyone knew each other, especially because it was a small village, and everyone was very kind, even to strangers. So that definitely stood out.”
The students on the trip did volunteer work on an organic coffee farm, sophomore Chloe Huynh said.
“Since it’s organic, we can’t use pesticides or any chemicals, so instead we have manually fertilize the plants, so we carried buckets of water mixed with rabbit poop, and we had to pass them down the line because they have coffee plantations but they planted them on terraces,” Huynh said.
In addition to doing community service on a farm, the students also learned about Costa Rican culture through visiting a village and doing relaxing activities, Huynh said.
“We took a charter bus to a village, Providencia de Dota; it was really cool,” Huynh said, “It was a couple-hour drive, and we stayed there for three to four days, and we did something new every single day. Basically, the first part of the morning would be service work until lunchtime, we would eat lunch at the local restaurant with the chefs who lived there, and then after that we would have time for showering, nap time, or exploring.”
Huynh’s favorite parts of the trip included the environment, food, and meeting people from Costa Rica, she said.
“I love the environment, and the places we visited; the Cloud Forest was so beautiful and so peaceful,” Huynh said. “The beaches were so nice and we could actually swim in it. The food was really good, everything was made fresh. With every single meal, there was a complimentary fruit juice or smoothie, and it was just really nice.”
Huynh also enjoyed interacting with the local people, she said.
“Obviously we both come from different places in the world and different lifestyles, so it was really cool to experience that,” Huynh.
French teacher Lisa Topping reached out to her friend at a service trip program called Dream Volunteers to organize the trip, Powell said. The program’s goal is to educate trip participants about education accessibility in different countries, she added.
“Madame Topping is friends with Brian Bunce; he is the organizer of the program Dream Volunteers,” Powell said. “Mr. Bunce, from Dream Volunteers, has taken students all over the world. They have programs in Costa Rica, India, and Guatemala. The program is centered around helping students across the world access education and connecting students from different cultures.”
There are plans to host another community service trip similar to this one next year, Powell said. An aspect of the trip that could be improved on includes the amount of people, she added.
“I think it would have been better if we had more students join us,” Powell said. “It was nice to have a small group, because we got to know each other really well, but having more students would have had a better impact than the work that we did. We would have been able to get more done with more hands on the farm.”
Students were able to go on a trip to Costa Rica from April 11 to 18 to earn community service credits, Spanish teacher Emily Powell said. The trip served as an opportunity for students to learn about the human impact on the environment, Powell said.
“The volunteers from Milpitas, they hadn’t met each other before,” Powell said. “Most of them didn’t know each other, but they became pretty close on this trip. They also got to experience and see firsthand what things like consumerism and commercial practices and pesticides can do to the environment, things that we see every day.”
Sophomore Suha Shah relished the opportunity to be surrounded by the natural environment, she said. Shah also looked forward to the experience of doing farm work, Shah added.
“I was really excited because I really like natural places, especially places near a lot of wildlife and forests and oceans,” Shah said. “That made me pretty happy, also the fact that it was a service trip, and that I would get to work at a farm and get a totally different experience to do something of service to people in the environment was something that I found really appealing.”
One notable aspect about Costa Ricans, specifically in the Providencia de Dota village, was their sociable and welcoming personality towards others, Shah said.
“Everyone was interconnected there,” Shah said.” “Everyone knew each other, especially because it was a small village, and everyone was very kind, even to strangers. So that definitely stood out.”
The students on the trip did volunteer work on an organic coffee farm, sophomore Chloe Huynh said.
“Since it’s organic, we can’t use pesticides or any chemicals, so instead we have manually fertilize the plants, so we carried buckets of water mixed with rabbit poop, and we had to pass them down the line because they have coffee plantations but they planted them on terraces,” Huynh said.
In addition to doing community service on a farm, the students also learned about Costa Rican culture through visiting a village and doing relaxing activities, Huynh said.
“We took a charter bus to a village, Providencia de Dota; it was really cool,” Huynh said, “It was a couple-hour drive, and we stayed there for three to four days, and we did something new every single day. Basically, the first part of the morning would be service work until lunchtime, we would eat lunch at the local restaurant with the chefs who lived there, and then after that we would have time for showering, nap time, or exploring.”
Huynh’s favorite parts of the trip included the environment, food, and meeting people from Costa Rica, she said.
“I love the environment, and the places we visited; the Cloud Forest was so beautiful and so peaceful,” Huynh said. “The beaches were so nice and we could actually swim in it. The food was really good, everything was made fresh. With every single meal, there was a complimentary fruit juice or smoothie, and it was just really nice.”
Huynh also enjoyed interacting with the local people, she said.
“Obviously we both come from different places in the world and different lifestyles, so it was really cool to experience that,” Huynh.
French teacher Lisa Topping reached out to her friend at a service trip program called Dream Volunteers to organize the trip, Powell said. The program’s goal is to educate trip participants about education accessibility in different countries, she added.
“Madame Topping is friends with Brian Bunce; he is the organizer of the program Dream Volunteers,” Powell said. “Mr. Bunce, from Dream Volunteers, has taken students all over the world. They have programs in Costa Rica, India, and Guatemala. The program is centered around helping students across the world access education and connecting students from different cultures.”
There are plans to host another community service trip similar to this one next year, Powell said. An aspect of the trip that could be improved on includes the amount of people, she added.
“I think it would have been better if we had more students join us,” Powell said. “It was nice to have a small group, because we got to know each other really well, but having more students would have had a better impact than the work that we did. We would have been able to get more done with more hands on the farm.”
