The week of October 21st Futuro Verde will give a big welcome to the International Baccalaureate students from Jersey Island, part of the Channel Islands. This group of 7 high school students attend Hautlieu School and participate in the IB Diploma Program. They take a trip to Costa Rica as part of the CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) program, an integral part of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. Their visit reaps benefits for all as it is a great opportunity for our students to make meaningful global connections with students from afar.
Futuro Verde IB students also participate in the CAS program, so this is a great opportunity for our student community to learn from other students’ experiences.
We are lucky to have this sustained cultural interaction which also helps further develop the CAS objectives, three in particular:
- explore new possibilities, embrace new challenges and adapt to
new roles
• purposely reflect on their experiences. - understand they are members of local and global communities
with responsibilities towards each other and the environment.
Jersey students and Futuro Verde students collaborating is a perfect example of a global community coming together to take action towards a common goal. This is how it all starts…the Futuro Verde administration team works ahead of time through email and Skype to connect with lead teachers from the partner school. They identify specific needs for Futuro Verde and the student body at that time. The service project ideas stem from these needs. The Jersey Island students then have the opportunity to interact with FV students pre-K through Colegio to create solutions to the identified needs, which involves hands-on experiences as suggested by CAS.
Past projects have included a range of focus areas from environmental education to specific academic needs. For example, one year the students participated in a beach cleanup with the purpose of collecting plastic to create murals with Colegio students to beautify our campus and also collected items to use for math manipulatives for younger students. Usually students are divided into three groups to focus on three different projects to make the most of their time and offer more direct interactions with our students. We are excited to see what projects will take place this year to enrich our students’ lives and improve our school.
The Hautlieu school, now on their fourth year visiting our school stay in Costa Rica for several weeks volunteering on several service projects, including orphanage work, Only Love preschool, and other activities. The students are also able to enjoy the beautiful diversity of Costa Rica with leisure activities, like hiking and visiting various tourist destinations – allowing them to see different aspects of the country.
Reflection and personal growth are at the heart of the CAS program, which is very holistic in nature. In the past, teachers and administrators who have worked with Hautlieu students have noticed changes in perspective just within the time frame they spend at our school. One of the positive things they mention is the connections they see between Futuro Verde students and teachers, starting with our lunch arrangement where we all eat together and are able to build and strengthen relationships in this way. Futuro Verde students comment that it is always interesting to learn about someone else’s culture and how this impacts their perspective. This year’s visit with the Jersey Island students will be yet another opportunity to open our minds to a new experience and grow as individuals.
