Lifeworks: Costa Rica

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Choice Camps Recommendation of Lifeworks: Costa Rica

Backed by over 30 years of experience, Lifeworks offers international community service projects that combine cultural immersion, travel, and outdoor adventure. Grounded in experiential education, Lifeworks is a non-competitive hands-on community service learning program where students can give back to the international community. The program strives for positive change in the world and transformational experiences for all those who participate.

The community service projects that students undertake range from human aid to environmental conservation to community development and any combination. By maintaining small groups of participants, students leave with a great feeling of accomplishment from having completed things themselves, and their self-reliance and confidence soar as a result. Volunteering, living, and learning as part of a small team provides a perfect environment to develop skills such as leadership, compassion, and communication. For teens ready to give something back to the international community while growing tremendously as an individual, Lifeworks will provide an experience of a lifetime.

Trip Description

Lifeworks Costa Rica aids the Humanitarian Foundation with its ambitious mission and projects, as well as provide students the opportunity to experience the ecology, culture, and adventure sports of this beautiful country. Service projects include construction for rural schools, direct care and activity leading for children in low income communities, painting projects, beach cleanups for turtle nesting sites, and much more.

Students also spend approximately 5 days living with home stay families, which offers a unique opportunity for cultural exchange and Spanish language study. Adventure activities include white-water rafting, horseback riding, hiking, and ziplining. Participants also have educational visits to coffee and banana plantations, indigenous cultural reserves, Costa Rica's "mini-Amazon" (including lots of wildlife watching!), and, of course, beach time on both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts!

Staff Overview

Lifeworks maintains a 5:1 student to staff ratio for this program. Lifeworks staff travel with the students full-time and are available to the students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Lifeworks staff consists of avid world travelers, highly qualified professionals, and experienced facilitators and educators. The average age of the staff is 28 and all are first aid certified. Staff skills are program specific, such as holding a maritime license on ocean adventures, or having a background in teaching English.

Setting & Accommodations

Most nights will be spent in beautiful eco-hotels overlooking the San Jose valley. The views are breathtaking, the community safe, and participants have easy access to Lifeworks project locations. For the 5-day home stay portion of the itinerary, the team splits up into gender appropriate groups of 2 to 4. This allows for greater immersion in to the culture and language.

Safety Standards

All Lifeworks staff members are first aid/CPR certified. Many are Wilderness First Responders, EMTs or above In all locations, medical care is always relatively close at hand.

Lifeworks: Costa Rica Session Dates

Session Name	Dates	Ages	Tuition
Trip One	6/24/10-7/14/10	14-19	$4,670
Trip Two	7/16/10-8/5/10	14-19	$4,670
Trip Two Plus Extension	7/16/10-8/12/10	14-19	$6,170

Trip Overview

Program Overview

Theme: Community Service
This Trip has Multiple Themes:
- Language Immersion
- Teen Tours
- Wildlife Viewing
Trip Gender: Co-ed
Group Size : 22
Camper-to-Counselor Ratio: 5:1
Religious Affiliation: None