{"id":60905,"date":"2015-06-03T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T16:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/?p=60905"},"modified":"2022-11-13T00:18:15","modified_gmt":"2022-11-13T05:18:15","slug":"success-story-costa-rica-study-abroad-experience-marks-fifth-year-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/?p=60905","title":{"rendered":"Success Story: Costa Rica Study Abroad Experience Marks Fifth Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>June 3, 2015<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Costa Rica study abroad students\" class=\"AlignImageLeft\" height=\"302\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ba2dc7dcc66cc78d2fb8ad8cdb5414e2costa-rica-pre-trip-225-1.jpg\" width=\"225\" \/>At five years old, NMC&#8217;s Costa Rica study abroad program has many age-appropriate traits: it&#8217;s thriving, energetic, and ready to explore.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also something most five-year-olds are not: The Central American nation from which a dozen NMC students returned this week is the most mature of NMC&#8217;s study abroad experiences.<\/p>\n<p>Started in 2011 by <strong>Constanza Hazelwood<\/strong> of NMC&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nmc.edu\/resources\/water-studies\/index.html\">Great Lakes Water Studies Institute<\/a>, the heart of the experience is a partnership with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.earth.ac.cr\/?lang=en\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"(link opens new window)\">EARTH University<\/a>, an internationally renowned agronomy school near the Costa Rican port of Lim&#243;n. This year, students in Freshwater Studies, Aviation and Plant Science all took part in the two-week sojourn on the tropical isthmus connecting North and South America.<\/p>\n<p>The multi-disciplinary nature of the 2015 trip is one of the key signs of maturity. Another is reciprocity. Last fall, the GLWSI hosted EARTH researcher and faculty member <strong>Alex Pacheco<\/strong> as a guest lecturer. Pacheco then invited another colleague to propose a project for this year&#8217;s trip that combined the skills and experience of NMC students in both Watershed Science and Unmanned Aerial Systems: an examination of the spread of <em>Sigatoka negra<\/em>, a fungus that threatens banana production around the world.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"NMC study abroad students working at a banana plantaion in Costa Rica\" class=\"AlignImageRight\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/b9f50d0cc66cc78d2fb8ad8c6fdec2f0banana-plantation-300-1.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/>&#8220;I have been to Costa Rica before, but this time I am not just a tourist, I am there to make a contribution. We are helping maintain a healthy watershed surrounding a banana plantation,&#8221; said Water Studies student <strong>Eoghan O&#8217;Connor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>To that end, students wielded both machetes and eBee, a professional mapping unmanned aerial system (UAS), on a banana plantation. Under Hazelwood&#8217;s guidance, they evaluated the effects of a buffer zone along the shorelines of the river running across the plantation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our partnership with EARTH has grown into a solid network of professionals working together to solve relevant environmental problems impacting the globe&#8217;s water resources,&#8221; Hazelwood said.<\/p>\n<p>They also practiced their Spanish in a home stay experience and soaked up as much culture and local lifestyle as possible.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8220;Beautifully overwhelming&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Costa Rica study abroad student Taylor West wields a machete\" class=\"AlignImageRight\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/b9f5651fc66cc78d2fb8ad8cce4aafd1banana-machete-taylor-west-300-1.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/>&#8220;This whole experience has been beyond incredible. All of us students have described it as sensory overload. Touch, smell, sight, taste has all been so beautifully overwhelming,&#8221; Water Studies student <strong>Taylor West<\/strong> wrote <a href=\"http:\/\/ittakesallkindscr2015.blogspot.com\/2015\/05\/costarica-home-stay-hola-wow-where-do-i.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"(link opens new window)\">on her blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Now back home, trip participants are preparing to debrief and discuss how their internship in Costa Rica can serve as a template as NMC&#8217;s Office of International Services and Service Learning seeks to offer more study abroad experiences in service of the college&#8217;s strategic goal to ensure that NMC learners are prepared for success in a global society and economy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Successful foundations like those with EARTH University allow us to think creatively when building future opportunities for multi-disciplinary study abroad,&#8221; said director <strong>Jim Bensley<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>June 3, 2015 At five years old, NMC&#8217;s Costa Rica study abroad program has many age-appropriate traits: it&#8217;s thriving, energetic, and ready to explore. It&#8217;s also something most five-year-olds are not: The Central American nation from which a dozen NMC students returned this week is the most mature of NMC&#8217;s study abroad experiences. Started in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intercom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Success Story: Costa Rica Study Abroad Experience Marks Fifth Year - NMC Communiqu\u00e9<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nmc.edu\/?p=60905\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Success Story: Costa Rica Study Abroad Experience Marks Fifth Year - NMC Communiqu\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 3, 2015 At five years old, NMC&#8217;s Costa Rica study abroad program has many age-appropriate traits: it&#8217;s thriving, energetic, and ready to explore. 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