by Khalida Lockheed | Jun 18, 2018
This year’s athletic season, and swimming in particular, has prompted some confusion amongst our community. “What national competition are you talking about NOW?” In an effort to clear up some of the confusion, the following is an explanation:
MEP – Student Sports Games
Every year, since 2014, Futuro Verde has participated in the Student Games organized by the Ministry of Education which is overseen by the Costa Rican Sports Commission (ICODER). We have won medals in swimming at the National level in both individual and relay events since we first entered these games. In 2016, after winning a gold medal in her individual event, Emma Garcia was invited by ICODER to join a selection of Student Games winners at the Central American Student Games in El Salvador. This year’s national events for primary and secondary took place in June with gold and silver medals. Emma Garcia won gold medals in both the 50 meter breaststroke and freestyle, the relay team in Category B (Elana Jiménez, Emma Garcia, Maya Salazar, and Samantha Fonseca) won silver medals in two relays, and our combined relay team in Category A (Leandro Salazar, Kai MacKenzie, Quetzal Ramírez, and Solana Chiaverini) won gold!
ICODER National Sports Games
This year, several of Futuro Verde’s more senior swimmers were invited to join the team of the district of Nicoya (ANANI) to participate with them in the National Games, also overseen by ICODER. These games include a wide array of sports and the finals take place in June and July. Accompanied by our Athletic Director, our swimmers participated in two Eliminatory competitions, with only the top 8 swimmers qualifying in each event. The final for swimming will take place in Cartago from July 9-12th. Four of Futuro Verde’s swimmers qualified for the finals: Sebastian Bravo, Fiona Jiménez, Elana Jiménez, and Emma Garcia. (Soleil Michaud qualified as a substitute). Fingers crossed for our swimmers in this prestigious event!
FECONA National Championship
As if the above weren’t enough, four of Futuro Verde’s swimmers, Soleil Michaud, Fiona Jiménez, Elana Jiménez, and Emma Garcia, also became “federated” swimmers with the swim club “El Milenio” in Escazu and had the opportunity to participate in the nationally recognized competitions associated with FECONA (National Federation of Swimming). During the course of the season, they competed in swim competitions which took place around the country providing the swimmers with the opportunity to post official times with FECONA. Swimmers who achieved times qualifying them in Mark A or B were invited to participate in the National Championship which took place in Cartago in May. All four Futuro Verde swimmers qualified to compete in the Championship and Fiona won the bronze medal in the 50 meter breaststroke event.
The sports program at Futuro Verde, often under-resourced and without adequate training facilities, has nevertheless offered our students a base from which they have sprung to achieve national success. Enormous credit for this success is shared by all involved – our dedicated coaches, our strong and resilient athletes, our committed parents and the Futuro Verde school philosophical commitment to the development of holistic student-athletes. We look forward to seeing an even larger group of Futuro Verde athletes in more sports participate in national events in the future!
by Emma Ruppert | May 28, 2018
I have always been a very curious person and very dedicated to my learning and study processes, and growing up I have always wanted to give the best of myself and push myself as much as possible in every aspect.
Arriving at Futuro Verde at the beginning of the 2017 school year, in ninth grade, my desire to improve was persistent and my goals were firmly fixed in my mind. Each day, the teachers taught me something different that sparked my interest, led me to investigate and enabled me to have enlightening conversations of which I still think fondly of today. Every lesson was transformed into something exciting and interesting. Thanks to the academic programs and the teachers, I had the opportunity to work in an art laboratory, take a classical languages course, be part of a women’s volleyball team and win the school tournament with my class, write essays about topics that I felt passionate about for the first time in my life, experience challenging learning methods and really appreciate the lessons that awaited me on a daily basis.
During this year and a half of study time at Futuro Verde, I have not only met exceptional people with whom I shared new experiences with, yet I also learned to really appreciate the work that each teacher does in order to instruct each student, and the effort they put in so that each lesson is successful. For this reason, I want to thank teachers, classmates and the entire school administration for the wonderful opportunity they have given me in helping me grow, strive and believe in myself. It is thanks to my studies at Futuro Verde that my vision of the world has changed and that my desire to change it continues to increase, but it is especially thanks to this educational center that I have discovered the power of education and teaching.
Futuro Verde, meaning the people that shape it and all my experiences with them, is a second family that I will always take with me, especially now that my new goal at UWC Hong Kong is approaching.
by Lural Ramirez | May 25, 2018
As we head into the month of June, our appreciation goes out to the collaborative nature of our educators at Futuro Verde. Do you know about the work that our music department has done this year after the unexpected illness and departure of our beloved music teacher, Oscar Leal Mendez?
Since March, Futuro Verde has been fortunate to have an incredible long-term substitute heading up our music program. And what an impact José Arturo Calvo González has made in such a short amount of time! From designing interactive and meaningful music classes for all grade levels to refining translation skills with our 3rd language students in secondary classes to his biggest job catching IB music students up to their timeline for their music studies, Arturo has been working so very hard! And, in his spare time, he has made his mark with individual and group guitar lessons for students and adults. Arturo has also been working hard to collaborate with his colleagues at Futuro Verde, with our IB coordinator, Stuart Millar, and with incoming, permanent music teacher, Irene Jover and, in so doing, has assured a seamless transition between permanent music teachers at Futuro Verde.
As our permanent hire for the position, Irene Jover, arrives at the end of this month, please take some time to thank Arturo and to welcome Irene. Our children are always enriched by the many talented and loving teachers who bring their expertise and joy to our school for short or long periods of time and we appreciate them for their time, their dedication and their commitment to keeping our students and their learning and development front and center at all times!
by Elian Gonzalez | May 24, 2018
Before getting to the States I had imagined it as a totally different place than that I experienced. I thought it would feel like a different world, but it did not. When we came out of the airport I was thinking only one thing, “How come it still feels like the same world?”. I was expecting to feel a rush of excitement as soon as I arrived but it wasn’t happening (I guess the only way to feel out of this world is going to outer space). New York wasn’t exactly what I had imagined, the buildings weren’t that impressive and there were trees! However; that is not a surprise since I was in New Jersey. I hadn’t realized that yet.
Throughout the whole trip, I was amazed by how many immigrants there were. Everywhere, in shops, the streets, restaurants, New Jersey or New York, there were so many immigrants, so many that it doesn’t feel so much like the USA but a place that belonged to nowhere, no one. As opposed to Costa Rica where one would only see diversity in tourist areas, there you would see people from all over the world as you walk down the streets.
Oh, and by the way, it is not walk down the streets but rather run down the streets. As Costa Ricans, I think Mateo and I could really feel how New Yorkers are always in a rush. Costa Ricans move slow. It is a generalization, but myths always have a little bit of truth. We all know about ‘Tico time’, we don’t have the culture of always being punctual, whereas, Americans are very punctual, and in the streets of New York you have to rush if you want to get somewhere on time. Everything is so much faster, one would rush through the overwhelming amount of people who are also in a rush, stopping a moment to tie your shoes could be a terrible decision since it takes just a few seconds to lose sight of someone in the Big Apple.
In life we need new experiences, something to keep us going. We need new things to stay excited about what is coming next. However, if too many new experiences come over and over, non-stop, we lose our ability to be amazed. The latter is the case for lots of people in and around Manhattan. From a guy walking around with a lizard on his shoulder to a model filming an ad in the streets; the most crazy scenarios you could imagine didn’t even make locals look twice.
Manhattan has so many people from all over that one could stay there for months without being able to see all of its culture. Manhattan is full of things to see and you don’t have to go any further than the street to see them.
by David Brookshire, MPH/ School Counselor & Special Education Case Manager | Apr 17, 2018
As we come to the close of the first trimester and parent teacher conferences are approaching, I’m reminded of my first parent conference as a parent. Quite honestly, I remember being a little taken aback by some of the numbers. How could someone not see my child as the glowing beacon of academic prowess that I saw him as? Sure, there were several subjects with high grades but what about the 2 or 3 that were lower than the rest? Certainly, there must be a mistake, a misunderstanding, or….could this be a direct attack?!? I joke, but I think this is probably a common experience for us as parents. Even though most of our students function quite well academically, everyone has their own strengths and challenges. When challenges arise, I think it often comes down to how we interpret feedback, how we conceptualize growth and success, and how we communicate that to our children.
This presents several opportunities, doesn’t it? It ‘s an opportunity to discuss personal strengths and challenges. It’s an opportunity to realize that we all function differently in different environments and therefore relate differently to different people. And, it ‘s an opportunity to incorporate a growth mindset as we examine our perspective about what it means to succeed or fail. All of these opportunities, when seized and used to frame discussions with our children, help us all to be well-rounded learners that adapt to various environments and thrive.
It’s quite reasonable to expect that each individual has their strengths and their challenges. As a result, it would be surprising if everyone was automatically perfect and exemplary at everything they attempted. In my experience, it can be helpful to focus on a child’s strengths in order to help them tackle something that might be more difficult. It’s common to face difficulty or challenge throughout life and learning tools and strategies to solve difficult problems can really help kids build confidence and increase their level of independence. For example, if one of my child’s strengths is creativity, I can use that as a guide for how to help him use creativity to solve problems or ask for help. If someone is naturally curious, we can help them harness their curiosity in more challenging situations to explore possible solutions. If a student is naturally persistent in some settings, we can help them use their strength to persist in other settings. Helping kids identify their strengths can be a really run and rewarding conversation for both us as parents, and the child as they learn about themselves and develop self-awareness.
As for a growth mindset, when we emphasize the importance of practice as the key to acquiring skills, it makes it easy to recognize that when lower scores in a certain subject occur, it simply signifies the need for more practice and maybe some extra help. It’s an opportunity to seek and incorporate feedback from a teacher and learn new ways to achieve our goals. Setbacks or challenges in learning provide an opportunity to see things in a different way and achieve deeper levels of understanding. With an emphasis on participation and effort, it’s relatively easy, at Futuro Verde, to get the help needed from teachers when there is a situation requiring more attention. Generally speaking, most students function within the range of optimal learning. And, with the notion that “it takes a village to raise a child,” we all work together for the healthy growth and development of the child.
by Noelia | Mar 26, 2018
During the month of April, we are exploring what it means to be knowledgeable. According to the IB Learner Profile, we define knowledgeable as:
“We explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so doing, we acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines (IB 2017).”
Having discussed the other values in previous months, we know that prior exploring the concept of being knowledgeable, we learn about what it means to be a good inquirer. Prior to practicing inquiry, we discuss as a school community what it means to be a healthy risk taker. When examined in sequence, we realize the way each concept relates to one another. By approaching new situations with courage and forethought, we take healthy risks that push us outside of our comfort zone, allowing us to learn and grow. This process facilitates inquiry as we develop natural curiosity and skills while enjoying the learning process. By practicing taking health risks and building the skill and curiosity of inquiry, we naturally become more knowledgeable.
At Futuro Verde in addition to academic knowledge, students also gain knowledge through experiential learning social-emotional learning. Whether practicing mindfulness or learning about different values, students gain insight into building character. This gives them a well-rounded perspective as they learn to relate to themselves and others around them. Each week at Peace Practices, these values are reinforced with activities as we come together as a school community. This is a fun and interesting way to integrate knowledge with experience as they build their own understanding of who they are in the world. A great way to reinforce this at home as to ask students what value they are learning about this month. If they can tell you about the weekly activities and how it relates to the value of the month, it shows that they are really integrating the concepts and becoming more knowledgeable about themselves and the values we practice as a school.
