Summer 2016 Participant
It was all incredibly rewarding. I love the connections I made while on this trip and the glimpse into another culture.
Jorden Nicole Matney-McCorkle, Summer 2018 Participant
I found it most rewarding to interact with the citizens of Costa Rica as much as possible. Interacting with those who were in the psychiatric hospital or in the prison allowed me to get to know these people and to learn their point of view on the social welfare system. Their personal stories that they wanted to tell us were informative and brought a personal point of view on the programs that we were learning about.
Aaron A. Conrad, Summer 2016 Participant
The elements of the program that were most rewarding were when we interacted with the social work students from the University of Costa, when we were able to visit the practicum sites at the local public schools, and the other practicum sites. It really made a huge impact to be able to see how they practiced social work in real life, in a real setting. The social workers in Costa Rica face many of the same issues that social workers in the United States face, like lack of funding for services, overwhelming caseloads, and political decisions that impact the populations we serve. Seeing how the social workers and social work students addressed those issues, with an emphases on community organization and advocacy, made me realize I still have a lot to learn about what it is to be a social worker.