Greetings GreenMount Community,
Next
Wednesday, our eighth graders depart for Costa Rica on their international trip. While they are there, they will be immersed
in an entirely different culture and will have many experiences that will last
a lifetime. The purpose of this trip is
to give our oldest students at least an understanding of another part of the
world and their connection to it. As
they interact with Costa Rican families and live with them in their village,
they will learn the value of living within one’s means and using resources
wisely in order to preserve family life and prosperity.
The village they will live in is in
a rural part of Costa Rica, not one of the newly developed resorts or urban
areas that have recently sprung up in this beautiful country. Our students will participate in a service
learning project (to be determined) that will assist the villagers and add to
their quality of life. Last year, our
students helped to build a French drain to avert flooding of the road in the village and they also
worked on the roof of the community kitchen.
I am sure this year’s group will return full of tales of their own contributions
to the people they will certainly come to consider them as their new
friends.
The trip will not be all work. Our students will have time to cool off at
the local waterfall and pool and they will also get to experience a tropical
rainforest up close and personal. Good
hikers will ascend a volcano and, along the way, see wildlife and vegetation
that many have only experienced at the National Aquarium.
For many
years the international trip has been an important part of what we do here at
GreenMount. We believe that our students
need to experience their world and
from that experience learn the interdependence that we all share on this
planet. Our philosophy is clear; we want
our students to “thrive in different environments” and be “connected to or
grounded in real life experiences.”
Indeed, we will be doing this as part of our study of our own hometown
during this last theme. We are taking
neighborhood walks and developing neighborhood guides. We will travel to the Fire Museum, the
Streetcar Museum, the American Visionary Art Museum and Federal Hill, the
Keswick Senior Center, the Nancy Patz exhibition at Goucher College, and the
Baltimore Museum of Industry, to name just a few. Also, parents are welcome to join us as we
have local artists and authors visit:
- Loring Cornish – 3/23 11:00 – 11:45
- Caleb Stein – 3/30 11:00 – 11:45
- Jennifer Bodine – 5/11
10:15 – 11:45
- Gilbert Sandler – 5/18 10:30 – 11:45
We have also contacted
others and hope to add to this already impressive list. We’ll keep you posted.
Cheers,
Steve
