Just a little after 5 am on Friday, April 15th during April break, AP Spanish students made their way to Costa Rica by plane. Jessica Kaplan, Foreign Language Department Head was the chaperone and the teacher who planned out this trip.

“So first we picked out what we wanted to do, and I knew that we wanted to be very interactive so we picked immersion and I thought Costa Rica would be fun because there are lots of activities you can do there,” she said.

There were many students who applied to attend this trip so the process of choosing was very difficult.

“This was really difficult because there were so many kids interested. Three of us [Teachers], went through the applications and tried to include as many students as we could,” Kaplan said.

While in Costa Rica, the group of 10 enjoyed many outdoor activities. 

“The whole tour was based around sustainability so we went to a lot of different farms, and saw how they grow their own food, create their own electricity, things like that. We also made soap and we cooked and did a lot of outdoor activities such as Zipline, White water rafting, kayaking, and little nature walks,” Kaplan explains.

Senior Shayla Wynne was very involved with the cultural activities during the Costa Rica trip. Whether it was photos or helping a sloth go into the wild, she was all in. 

“At the Mesoamerica rescue center… the worker brought over a tub with a sloth inside and asked for a volunteer and, I raised my hand and I got to free the sloth near a tree and open the container and pulled him out and led him to the forest.”