Costa Rica Trip Delivers Lead From Here “Through a Global Lens”

Costa Rica Trip Delivers Lead From Here “Through a Global Lens”
  • One World
Julie Dengler

The Middle School program, like those in the Upper School, is grounded in curriculum and includes advance preparation, team-building activities and purposeful exploration and service.

Guided by the citizen leadership framework of Lead From Here, the entire school community — students, faculty and staff, and families — is committed to living out the overlapping spheres of Leading Self, Leading With Others and Changing Your World. Students enjoy many opportunities to flex their leadership competencies in their classes, through clubs and service learning, and in athletics and fine arts.

The cross-divisional Global Education Department takes that commitment one step further, challenging Ravens to take Lead From Here out into the larger world — sometimes literally. Reimagined in 2020 to align more purposefully with Lead From Here, today’s Global Ed programming inspires and prepares students to view themselves as global citizens who “possess the knowledge, skills and disposition required to understand multiple perspectives and thrive and lead in a complex and interdependent world.”

As Director of Global Education Melanie Spransy and Middle School social studies teacher Michelle Schulze, the new Assistant Director of Global Education, roll out this year’s robust slate of travel opportunities, they shared with us the details of the revamped Middle School service-learning program in Costa Rica, which ran for the first time this past June.

Middle School students have the opportunity to visit Irazú Volcano National Park, at right, home to the tallest volcano in Costa Rica; and the rain forest hugging the Sarapiqui River, which they cross via a swinging bridge.


“We try to ‘go global but be local’”

Under Schulze’s direction since 2016, the Costa Rica experience was already in many ways “a deep global-learning experience,” Spransy explained. “But we wanted to rebuild it to make sure that it aligned with where global education has gone since the pandemic.”

The trip, like the Upper School travel programs Ravenscroft offers, is grounded in curriculum. “We took the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and our Lead From Here goals, and we combined those with the Earth Charter principles to create a global-goal focus every single day of our 10-day itinerary.”

The retooled travel program, which is open to students in seventh and eighth grades, also includes a series of pre-departure meetings to prepare students — many of whom have likely not traveled far from home without their families — for the new experiences they’ll have. Leaders cover topics such as intercultural communication, encouraging students to use body language and gestures as well as a Spanish-language phrase book and notebook to help them bridge language barriers when interacting with host families and members of the local community.

As the immersion program involves home stays, where students join their hosts’ meals and family life, facilitators also talk about the value of leaning into new experiences, even when it feels challenging. “We really emphasize for them the importance of putting yourself out there and being vulnerable and working through that uncomfortable point, because in the end, the students of Escuela Nueva de los Altos are feeling just the same way,” Schulze said.

The group visits a cacao plantation, where they learn about the global economic impact of the crop through history; as part of the tour, everyone (including chaperones Kim Martin, Rachel Breazeale, Michelle Schulze and Danny Carlsongets to sample “every stage of chocolate,” Schulze said. “‘Theobroma’ means nectar of the gods.’”


Additionally, program leaders emphasize the importance of being a responsible tourist and understanding the role the country’s natural resources play in its economy.

“When the students hear about the program, they’re originally very excited about white-water rafting and zip-lining and the chocolate tour — which is wonderful. We are able to participate in those activities because we talk about what it means to … practice sustainable tourism, which is part of the economy of Costa Rica,” Schulze explained. “We try to ‘go global but be local’ in that everything that we do is helping to put back into that economy.”

Once on the ground in Atenas, Costa Rica, students begin an educational and enrichment experience that is nothing short of transformational. From homestays with Costa Rican families to shopping in a cooperative supermarket before they take a cooking class, the young travelers are supported and challenged each day, both individually and as a group.

With a focus on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, students consider how the topics impact them and how they can effect change. Through service projects in the community and leading activities with their peers at a local school, participants build confidence in helping others.

Jet Tran ’28 takes the plunge at Vista Los Suenos Adventure, ziplining through the rainforest canopy with spectacular views of Herradura Bay and the Nicoya Gulf.


“We can connect and share our cultures”

While the program sparks learning and a more global mindset, students benefit in other ways as well. As they work through the language barrier, for example, they are also grateful recipients of the support and patience of others.

“One of the most rewarding experiences was witnessing the transformation of our students as they adapted to a different culture and navigated a second language,” sixth-grade English Language Arts teacher Kim Martin, who served as a chaperone for the June trip, said. “They were out of their comfort zone when they arrived, but each day they grew more secure and confident.”

“It took a while to adjust to the lifestyle, but it was well worth it in the end. Being fully immersed [with families] allowed me to see how privileged we are,” participant James Schulze ’28 said. “This helped me realize that you don’t need all this or all that to be happy. It changed the way I look at a lot of things.”

At left, Ravens including Jaden Sullivan ’28, Rishi Kamma ’28, Nanaki Kainth ’28 and Carleigh Cates ’28 play with students during recess at Escuela Nueva de los Altos, Ravenscroft’s longtime partner school; at right, the new playground net made possible in part by the Lower School’s annual market project.


“My host mom spoke only Spanish, so it was sometimes difficult to communicate with her. Although my Spanish sentences were choppy, she would try to help me with my sentences,” Nanaki Kainth ’28 said of her experience. “We talked about our families during dinners and shared stories. … This showed me that, even though we live in different countries and speak different languages, we still connect and share our cultures with each other.”

Chaperone and Middle and Upper School Spanish teacher Rachel Breazeale added to that, “It was truly a gift to be able to see the students realize that what we work so hard on in class is transferable to the real world.”

In the end, many on the trip concluded, seeing Ravenscroft’s treasured citizen leadership competencies at work is the biggest takeaway.

Reyna Williams ’28 smiles with a student during math and language lessons; chaperone Danny Carlson gives another a boost while they work together on a chalk mural.


Chaperone Danny Carlson, who is the Lower School IDE teacher, said, “I was most moved by how complete the experience was with regards to our Lead From Here framework. The Ravenscroft group experienced interactions with individuals in many sectors of the local population in addition to interacting as a group with people in the local community. All of this contributes to our notions of how we can effect change in ourselves, in those immediately around us and in our world. I'm optimistic that the growth we experienced will translate into many opportunities to make impactful change in our local communities.”

As Spransy concluded, these outcomes support the program’s goals — and those of the school as a whole.

“We are interested in promoting students who can communicate and become leaders through communication,” she said. “This program sets them up to connect with students around the world about sustainability … [and] to learn the cultural agility to be able to connect and collaborate with people from outside of your own community and promote a positive, sustainable future for everyone.”

The Ravenscroft group poses on the playground with students at Escuela Nueva de los Altos.

Above: Middle Schoolers enjoy fresh watermelon and pineapple at a stop along their white-water rafting adventure on the Rio Sarapiqui.

White-water rafting on the Rio Sarapiqui


Guided by our legacy of excellence and the Lead From Here Framework, Global Education at Ravenscroft is an integrated and substantive presence throughout school life, programs, and planning. Ravenscroft will help develop global citizens who possess the knowledge, skills, and disposition required to understand multiple perspectives and thrive and lead in a complex and interdependent world. Ravenscroft will offer curricula embedded with global themes and an array of opportunities through travel and hosting, cultural and language immersion and service-learning in order to foster an awareness, appreciation and understanding of the world.