Education in Costa Rica

The most important experience from this trip has been going to the schools.  This was what I was most excited about when coming to Costa Rica.  I love to take any and every chance I get to interact with kids and have a chance to help them learn, especially given that it helps me to learn too.  After my first school visit here I wanted to go back and spend each day with those kids.  At first they were rather shy but you could tell that it meant a lot to them that we were there to teach and help them.  After that visit the students wrote us letters and drew us pictures.  This was the most rewarding feeling; to know that we had touched their lives and that they were truly grateful for what we could do. 

After going to the Cloud Forest school I felt even more strongly about how rewarding this experience was.  I’ve always been one who wanted to stay close to home and my family.  I’ve never even considered teaching anywhere outside of the St. Louis area unless it was absolutely necessary that I relocate.  After this visit, however, I could see myself moving down to Costa Rica to teach at a school like this or a year or two.  For me, having the opportunity to teach in a school like this for a year would be the greatest opportunity.  I want to be able to give back to this community as much as I feel it’s given to me in the last couple of weeks.  In just a matter of weeks I feel that everything in this culture has impacted me greatly.  I would love to see how much more there is to learn here if given the opportunity to come back and teach.