Westfield State students pose at a beach in Costa Rica. L to R: First row: Kelly Griffin, Stephanie Cobb, Hannah Adams, Michelle Deane, Maddie Spillers. Second row: Emilie Manna, Megan Barr, Jordan Ciaramitaro, Alana Sullivan, Meghan Arment, Abby Deming, Kolleen White.
WESTFIELD – Twelve Westfield State University students traveled to Costa Rica this summer as part of the short-term study abroad course “A Costa Rican Intercultural and Tropical Ecology Experience” led by Professor Kathleen Itterly and Professor Trudy Knowles, both from the Westfield State Department of Education.
The course was designed to allow future teachers to immerse themselves in another culture both by participating in service learning as they observe and assist with instruction at local schools and exploring the Costa Rican environment by visiting different ecological sites.
Itterly said that understanding different cultures is an essential tool for educators.
“We live in a multicultural world,” Itterly said. “We all need to continue to broaden our awareness of the many human perspectives across the planet.”
While students had two guides that were bilingual, they mostly were left to themselves to work through the language barrier.
“They muddled through the language challenges just as many of our second language learners in USA schools must in our teachers’ eventual classrooms,” Itterly said. “Many students embraced the term, ‘pura vida,’ which basically means, pure life, go with the flow.”
Students visited four Costa Rican elementary schools. The first was Escuela San Jorge, a small school with five students ages 6-14. Students then visited two private bi-lingual schools in the Monteverde area (Cloud Forest School and Monteverde Friends School) to focus on bilingual education, and then concluded with the Santa Elena Public School in Santa Elena where they taught a lesson to students in grades K-5.
Westfield State student Maddie Spillers ’17 from Hopedale, Mass. said she enjoyed the first teaching location.
“The first school we went to truly changed my perspective on the meaning of education, and cherishing what you have,” Spillers said.
Spillers was especially affected by an ambitious young student.
“The girl I spent the most time with was 12 years old. She wanted to go to a university in the U.S. and become a computer engineer,” Spillers said. “Hearing this from a girl who had never owned a computer in her life, who takes care of her younger sister five days out of the week, and gets herself to school was so inspiring. She reminded me to dream big, and with hard work and dedication, anything is possible.”
In addition to teaching, students visited a number of ecological sites including the Atlantic lowlands, volcanic mountains, the cloud forests of Monteverde, and the Pacific lowlands.
Going along with the ecology aspect of the course, students were able to balance the carbon footprint of their travel by contributing to scientific research. Students measured the growth of secondary forest trees scattered throughout an area near the La Calandria field station. In exchange for their research, trees were planted in their names, three for each student.
Student Emilie Manna ’16 of Reading, Mass. most enjoyed visiting the Children’s Eternal Rainforest, which she described as “life-changing.”
“It was amazing to see and learn about all the different animals and how they all work together to keep the forests alive and growing,” Manna said. “I loved that we were able to learn about something and have a lecture then take a walk and see exactly what we learned.”
Manna also said the course helped her decide what type of environment to have in her future classrooms.
“For my future classroom, I learned the power of love and how simple acts of kindness and acceptance can go such a long way,” Manna said. “Your classroom needs to be built off of that and giving students that type of environment will only help them to grow.”
Spillers said she will apply what she learned as a future teacher with the notion that not all learning occurs inside a classroom.
“During my career as a special education teacher I want my students to embrace the world and what surrounds them and attack face on, and see it for themselves rather than on a piece of paper.” Spillers said. “Students need to get outside, explore, and use their hands and senses to learn about what surrounds them.”
At the end of their two week travel, one thought came to Manna’s mind.
“This course made me realize that I have chosen the right profession and all the many reasons I am blessed to have chosen it,” Manna said. “Costa Rica is a beautiful country and I only hope to return back to teach there one day.”
