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| GS Students Travel to Costa Rica |
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Spanish Instructor Lara Sarris recently returned fromCosta Rica where she accompanied five Gray Stone students on the trip of a lifetime. Kendall Taylor, Pressley Laton, Brooke Russell, Taylor Hopkins, and Jenna Boyd accompanied Sarris on a trip which was organized by ACIS, a travel company that assists schools with overseas travel.
"I couldn't have chosen a more spectaclar place to go for my first international trip. Costa Rica was gorgeous, interesting and enjoyable. From rafting down the Naranjo River, to learning about cloud forest epiphytes, every place we visited taught me something new and I will remember it forever." says Pressley Laton. The group departed from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and traveled to San Jose, Costa Rica on an educational trip designed to heighten awareness of central American culture. The group spent nine days enjoying fabulous sites and interacting with locals. Some of the sites included the Arenal Volcano, the Cloud Forest area of Monteverde, adventures along the Rio Frio, the Manuel Antonio National Park and Beach area, and the city of San Jose.
Sarris identifies one of the many goals of the trip was to find ways for Gray Stone to partner with a school in Costa Rica to make learning Spanish more relevant for students at Gray Stone and allow students the opportunity to offer aid to a school in need. "Traveling allows students to make hands-on cultural connections, be immersed in a variety of learning experiences and develop a global perspective while gaining confidence as they are faced with new and challenging experiences," says Sarris. "Building a relationship with a school in Costa Rica would provide students a platform to learn and feel invested in what they are learning about languages, cultures and communities, as well as allow them to give back." Sarris hopes to return to the region next summer with a group of young people on a service learning trip.
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