In this Daily: Las Catalinas Homeowners and a Truly Special Field Trip
For the past four years, members of the Las Catalinas community have partnered with local international school La Paz to put on a week-long field trip for 11th grade students. The trip, part of the 11th grade Business Management course, takes these students to Atlanta to meet with leaders at large organizations like Turner Broadcasting, Care, Coca Cola, Emory Hospital, Okabashi, and more. Along the way, they stay with Las Catalinas homeowners and get hands-on time to do real work at these large corporations.
How It All Started | The Early Days of Las Catalinas
Amy Jacobs is a long time friend of Las Catalinas. She is an active member in the Guanacaste community, and the leader for this field trip. She explains that the seeds for this trip were planted in the early days of Las Catalinas. Way back when it was just 7 homes and Pura Vida Ride, which she helped run with her husband Jake.
“It’s funny, we all became great friends very quickly because there wasn’t anyone else around!” she says. “When Diane and Kent and Ginny and Charles came down we all liked to work out, so that was how we spent all of our time together.”
It became a close friendship. A couple of years later when Amy was teaching her Business Management course, that close friendship helped give life to this trip.
“We started talking about large corporations, and we thought ‘how do we get them to go see what large corporations do, how do we show them what it looks like to work there?’”
A connection to Turner broadcasting created the opportunity for the first field trip. 5 students made the trip to Atlanta, hosted by a pair of Las Catalinas homeowners. They worked hands-on throughout the week with one of the organization’s marketing teams. It was a tremendously successful trip. Soon, ideas began to flow in as to how it could be improved.
Creating an Impactful Field Trip | The Next Four Years
Over the course of the next four years, the trip began to grow. A slew of Atlanta-based homeowners pitched in with connections, offering their homes, and helping support the trip.
“It was kind of crazy,” Amy explains. “We did it the first time and then Charles and Ginny pitched in, and then Angel, and before you knew it you had all everyone working together to make this trip happen.”
Over the course of the next four years the trip grew from the small initial group of 5 students and Amy up to a group of 17 students and 4 chaperones, and the opportunities continued to grow.
The following years brought meetings with leaders at Care, several investment groups, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, Emory Hospital, Okabashi, as well as meetings with a professional investment advisor, and visits to art museums and workshops all around Atlanta. And the goal is to continue growing the trip.
“Next year, we’re looking to bump that number up to 20 students or more, and try to add even more interesting stuff for them to do. It shifts your worldview to see this kind of thing.”
The Long Term Value | Why This Trip is Meaningful
Amy lights up when she talks about how the students on this trip are changed.
“All of a sudden you’re getting a look inside these large corporations. You see the campus, with all of the buildings, you see the sense of purpose and direction. You start to understand how they talk, what they talk about, why they talk about it. It shifts your way of thinking.”
And Amy believes that these kinds of experiences can affect meaningful change throughout Guanacaste.
“? of our students end up staying in Costa Rica, and this trip is an investment in them because they’ll become business owners one day, and improve the region.”
Many of the trip's alumni have gone on to business programs at universities across Costa Rica and the U.S. Including programs like Berkely. Amy hopes to see this continue. She looks forward to the day when these students start to open up their own businesses in Guanacaste.
A Project Created from Community
Amy explains that this trip would never have been possible without the connections made at Las Catalinas. She thinks that those connections in town will continue to bring value to students and to the region.
“It’s not just going to visit. It’s actually getting to work with these people and get into the nitty gritty, figuring the details out, and legitimately challenging a business owner on how to run their business. For these kids to be able to talk to a production manager for Emory Hospital, that makes this really great.”
Amy finished up by explaining that for all the work that has gone into creating this trip, it felt like it happened naturally. She especially credits the homeowners who contributed to this project. Despite their successes in the world of business, they were open and willing to help their neighbors.
Wishing the international school La Paz program a world of success in the coming years.