Trip
Costa Rica Service and Ecology Journey, Saturday, March 20 to Sunday, March 28, 2027
Group
20 tenth-grade students and four chaperones, one adult for every five students, in the same groups of five all week
Program
Poás Volcano National Park; a rainforest field study with the Selva Verde naturalists and the Tirimbina biologists, including river water quality and the bat program; a school-improvement project with the Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center; the opening nights of the leatherback census at Pacuare Nature Reserve; a canal wildlife transect. Spanish is used every day and assessed.
Travel
Flights through Miami, then two minibuses with the host operator's own drivers for nine days. The coastal reserve has no road: the reserve's boats carry the group the last ten kilometers, about forty minutes each way
Lodging
Eight nights at three bases: an airport hotel in Alajuela on arrival and before the flight home, three nights at a rainforest lodge in Sarapiquí, and three at a coastal reserve with no mains electricity and no cell coverage
School
Horizon Ridge School of Cleveland

The documents

Approving the trip

Telling families

Preparing the leader and chaperones

Connecting the trip to learning

Improving next year's trip

Other worked trips

The west front of the U.S. Capitol seen across the lawn from the National Mall.City · Washington, DCWashington, DCHorizon Ridge School of ClevelandSee the documents →The dome of Florence Cathedral and Giotto's bell tower above the rooftops of Florence, with hills behind.Culture · EuropeItalyHorizon Ridge School of ClevelandSee the documents →Forested Blue Ridge hills in early autumn color, seen from The Point Overlook on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.Outdoor · VirginiaShenandoah National ParkHorizon Ridge School of PhiladelphiaSee the documents →Map of the four-day route from Lafayette Place in Franconia Notch past Greenleaf, Galehead, and Zealand Falls huts to Crawford Depot, each day drawn in alternating blue and brick.Outdoor · New HampshireWhite MountainsTideline SchoolSee the documents →Map of the five paddling days on Casco Bay, from the launch at East End Beach in Portland to the camps on Little Chebeague Island and Jewell Island, and back.Outdoor · Maine coastCasco BayTideline SchoolSee the documents →Individual Trip Reports →