Travel for a Change This Summer on the Teen Leadership & Language Costa Rica Program

With so many great program options for teens in Costa Rica, how do you know which is right for you? Well, the facilitators of the Teen Language & Leadership Camp in Costa Rica, Laura and Amy, might be biased, but they want you to know they believe this one of the best options you’ll encounter!

Here’s why they say this program is so impactful. 

There are a lot of challenges you’ll face when doing experiential learning abroad – and they require a very open mind and desire to experience (and we mean truly experience!) a new culture. This means getting used to different standards of living and forgoing many of the luxuries you might be used to at home.

Of course, like any developing nation, Costa Rica has its fair share of growing pains, but it is also has an amazingly welcoming and safe culture, plus one of the world’s top environmental protection structures. Its eco-friendly tour opportunities combined with its small size and accessible infrastructure mean that in just two weeks, students will experience lowland jungle, rainforest, a volcano, the beach, an island, enormous waterfalls, indigenous communities and a tropical wildlife rescue center.

All of this in addition to studying Spanish and completing our Positive Leadership Workshop series, which includes the following:

• Opening circle to meet participants, share reflections, examine expectations & perceptions, and contemplate personal goals for intercultural understanding and social action
• Practices in Empathy: Participants will be asked to share and actively participate in a series of learning exercises designed to provoke awareness of “the other”, and develop strategies for how to engage constructively through the practice of empathy.
• Social Responsibility: This is a common theme in many academic and professional circles, and we believe all global citizens have a duty to participate in and lead initiatives conceived with the objective of ensuring sustainable development, fair labor practices and environmental protection.
• Mindfulness Sharing Circle: reflections on the courses of the first week; reflecting on changes in perception of culture and people, individual experience and more.
• Empowered communication: direct, constructive and respectful communication is vital to every part of our lives, personal, professional and academic. In this workshop we learn to identify patterns, techniques for enhanced communication skills and how to effectively and positively communicate our message.
• Social Media for Social Change: Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, Snapchat… these and many more platforms are how a huge part of our populations gets its news and communicates about people, products, ideas and more. Students will learn how to effectively craft their message, prioritize objectivity and start to think about WHAT they can do to make a difference and HOW they want the world to hear about it.
• Global Citizen Closing Workshop: Teens will reflect on their whole experience and share stories of things that inspired, changed and challenged them. We will all set further goals for personal development and to implement some of our new skills into socially responsible projects. We recognize that though our contributions may be small, they are all part of a global tapestry, and that working together we really can change the world!

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito”
– African proverb quoted by the Dalai Lama

In short, this camp will boost your language skills, intercultural intelligence AND give you the confidence and skills you need to positively influence and navigate the quickly changing culture of our world.