Costa Rica Service Learning Program

STEP Category: Service-Learning and Community ServiceThis nine day service learning program spent the first half of the week focused on agricultural sustainability and the second half on cultural exploration and immersion. To learn about sustainability, we stayed at E.A.R.T.H. University (la Escuela de Agricultura de la Región Tropical Húmeda) touring compost and soil laboratories, livestock farms, experimental cacao plots, a commercial banana plantation, and a forest reserve. Later in the week, we stayed with host families in the rural community of la Argentina to complete several service projects and experience home-life on a farm. Finally, we visited Cahuita National Park and Volcán Arenal to sight-see and discover native animals like sloths, howler monkeys, snakes, lizards, and poison frogs.The Ohio State University Second-year Transformational Experience Program (STEP)Academic Major: Food Science and Technolog