East Liverpool High School students who traveled abroad had the opportunity to explore the natural wonders of Costa Rica. (Submitted photo)
EAST LIVERPOOL — Students at East Liverpool High School taking Spanish classes wrapped up the school year with a trip to Costa Rica where they had the opportunity to experience the culture and gain real world use of their Spanish skills.
Students Izabelle Buchheit, Alana Cornell, Aaron Nelson, Rowan Stevens, Lillian Grogg, Daniel Persohn, Alexandria Adkins, Natalia White, Juliana Burkett, Hollie Morris, Michael Morris and Braden Duke were accompanied by chaperones Roberto Grogg of the school board and teacher Soshana Fineman.
According to Fineman, who has traveled a lot and lived in Costa Rica, she organized the trip so the students could have an experience like hers and Costa Rica seemed like a safe option for their first trip.
Students held fundraisers to cover the cost of the trip of approximately $3,000 per person. What the students weren’t able to raise was covered by donations.
Lillian said on the trip the students went to a farm where they learned about sustainability, how they deal with the animal waste there, and how they make the most of the resources they have.
The students agreed that a lesson could be learned from them on how to be more sustainable and the need to be more sustainable.
For Alexandria, a memorable event from the trip was getting into the communities there and seeing how the local youth are growing up and what their day-to-day life is like.
Fineman noted that the students visited La Victoria, a low-income school where they did activities, played games and danced with preschool through fifth-grade students.
For Rowan, the most memorable part of the trip was ziplining through the jungle and going to the zoo and seeing animals they don’t see at home. Rowan also said that the culture there is really great and talking to the kids who always seem happy and without a care was fun.
Aaron enjoyed snorkeling at the beach where he was able to see fish and stingrays in the water and monkeys on the beach. Izabelle also enjoyed ziplining and snorkeling and noted she saw sea turtles while in the water.
Daniel enjoyed the views at La Fortuna Waterfall where they had to hike down 500 steps to see it and then climb back up.
For Alana, the chance to relax in natural hot springs and take a mud bath helped make the trip memorable.
The students all enjoyed seeing the volcanoes, both active and dormant.
The students noted that their diet in Costa Rica consisted mainly of rice and beans except for time spent in the more urban areas. Fineman said the students were excited to go to the grocery store to buy snacks and the pizza shop right next to their hotel.
Izabelle noted that they took a culinary class on their trip to the sustainability farm where they made empanadas.
“I think that was the most difficult thing we tried to do,” Izabelle said. “They just keep turning to mush. When we finally got them, they were really, really hard.”
Most of the students were in agreement that the most challenging part of the trip was trying to speak in fluent Spanish, but the trip helped them improve their Spanish speaking skills and while they were learning Costa Rican slang from the residents there, they were teaching them American slang.
Aaron noted that when he left for the trip he didn’t think he would need to speak Spanish, discovered once he got there, there were times when he was alone and needed to speak Spanish such as when ordering food. He also said once he started using the language it wasn’t as difficult as he thought it would be, but it taught him he needs to pay a little more attention in Spanish class.
For many of the students on the trip, this was the first time they needed a passport or their first time flying.
When asked if they now feel a sense of wanderlust and are ready to go out and explore the world some more, they all excitedly said yes and they all feel the trip was the opportunity of a lifetime for them at this time.
They also all said the trip was both fun and educational.
Grogg said the students amazed him with the challenges they tackled on the trip and he couldn’t be more proud of them.
“They made East Liverpool proud,” Grogg said. “They were model students.”
Fineman said she would love to do another student trip and maybe go to Columbia, South America, but Columbia isn’t a safe place to travel, and safety is priority, but might like to consider a trip to Peru.
kgarabrandt@mojonews.com