A Journey of Discovery: Middle School Students Explore Nature, Culture, and Community in Costa Rica

By: Adriana Arroyave, Language Department

On the first week of Spring vacation, from March 7–12, 2026, a group of 7th and 8th-graders from our Middle School went on an educational trip to Costa Rica. The planning of the trip started a few months before in the Costa Rica Club, where students got prepared through talks, activities, and study of the country's geography, wildlife, and rich cultural heritage.

The MBS Global Studies Program creates trips where students get to be part of real communities and share meaningful experiences with the people who live there. The goal is simple, spark curiosity, build compassion, and help students see their role as future citizens of the world. Every other year, a group of Middle School students travels to Costa Rica together with their teachers, who are just as excited to learn as their students. We all go to experience the Costa Rican way of life, “The Pura Vida Spirit.” As the Ticos say, it is about seeing life in a simpler and more positive way, and appreciating what truly matters.

The purpose of the trip was to help students discover Costa Rican culture and see with their own eyes the amazing work being done to protect nature, wildlife, and the communities that depend on them. These efforts are part of a global movement, guided by the United Nations, to take care of our planet for future generations. Costa Rica is known around the world as a leader in environmental conservation, and after this trip, our students totally understood why.

Costa Rica is a small country, about the same size as the state of West Virginia. But here is a fun fact, you can travel from San José, in the Central Valley where most of the country's people live, through the mountains and into the cloud forest, where the fog and the cold wrap around you and strawberry plantations bloom and fill the air with a sweet scent. Then, continuing our route, we crossed the continental divide and came down into the tropical rainforest, where the heat and humidity hit you the moment you arrive. There, the majestic Arenal Volcano rises near La Fortuna, a place where the rich volcanic soil grows an amazing variety of crops: plantains, bananas, pineapples, cacao, coffee, and sugar cane, all of which we got to see with our own eyes. It is amazing to go through all these different regions, from cold and misty to hot and humid, in just about 4 hours, all in one single day.

The Costa Rica trip gave students amazing opportunities across many different subjects. In science, they got to explore the country's incredible biodiversity up close. At Proyecto Asís, a wildlife rescue center near La Fortuna, students helped prepare food inside special handmade toys for the animals, a fun and creative way the care team keeps the animals healthy and active. The rescue center invited us to help design new enrichment toys for the animals in their care. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to play an active role in the rehabilitation of wild animals, turning ideas that start in our classrooms into real actions that make a difference. It will also be the beginning of an ongoing connection with Proyecto Asís, where students can join Zoom calls with the care team to follow the progress of the animals and their rehabilitation journey. This is our first post-trip project idea, and we can't wait to propose it to the Middle School community.

Students also practiced Spanish with the locals and got to experience the culture firsthand by preparing a traditional meal on a family farm. They met a local family who lived on a small farm filled with animals: horses, ducks, sheep, chickens, rabbits, cows, parrots, and dogs. In the family's vegetable garden, students picked the fresh ingredients they needed to make a traditional Costa Rican dish, the Casado, served with chicken and fish. Back in the kitchen, everyone pitched in. Some students made tortillas, others chopped vegetables, some fried the chicken or the fish, others prepared the Pico de Gallo, a few helped bake banana bread, and some helped wash the ingredients. It was a real team effort to put together a full meal for the whole group, including the family that welcomed us into their home. It was a wonderful evening!

Another special experience was our visit to the Children's Eternal Rainforest, the largest private nature reserve in Costa Rica. This non-profit organization has a fascinating story, it was created thanks to the fundraising efforts of children from 44 countries around the world. It all started when a group of students from a Swedish primary school set up a lemonade stand after their teacher visited Costa Rica and felt inspired to help protect the land. This is a beautiful example of how the actions of a few people can make a difference on the other side of the world.

During our visit, we heard about how the reserve is home to hundreds of wildlife species. We got to see some of them through cameras placed around the reserve. Our students walked through the forest and planted trees, leaving their own mark in Costa Rica. How many people can say they planted a tree in Costa Rica! 

Along the way, we discovered many species of trees and plants, and stopped at the edge of a beautiful waterfall. We took a few minutes to breathe in the fresh air and appreciate the incredible beauty of nature. It was one of those moments you never forget. The reserve has 6 rangers who look after the animals and plants and make sure no one hunts or poaches them illegally. Although hunting is prohibited in Costa Rica, some people still try to capture animals and sell them for high prices.

This visit inspired our second proposal for the Middle School community, to find ways to fundraise and contribute to the Children's Eternal Rainforest. Maybe some of the money raised through our snack shop could go toward helping protect this amazing place. This is something we would love to make happen together.

Costa Rica became a living classroom for our students. Every experience helped them see and understand the world in a new way: how nature, culture, history, and biology are all connected, and how a small country can have a big impact on the world. Visiting a cacao farm, flying through the treetops on a zip line, crossing the hanging bridges, listening to Costa Rican music, and dancing to traditional rhythms, every moment was a lesson in itself. At the National Museum of Costa Rica, housed inside an old fortress that still carries bullet holes from a 1948 civil war, history was right there in front of them.

This trip was a powerful reminder of the choices that make Costa Rica so special, peace over conflict, conservation over deforestation, and protecting nature and wildlife over exploiting it. Our students saw these values not in a book, but in real life, all around them. And that is something no classroom back home could have ever given them.

The students who attended the trip were: