Latin America Gap Semester

As communities around the world adapt to changes in climate, culture and globalization, the question of how to manage natural resources in rural areas is more pressing than ever. Maintaining quality of life, providing jobs for women and the elderly, and harnessing natural resources in a responsible manner are challenges that will determine the development trajectory of many countries. In Guatemala, you’ll live with indigenous Mayan families to learn the innovative ways rural people and governments are creating economic opportunity while preserving their environment and culture. You’ll work alongside a local farmers co-op to see how they balance daily necessities, profit, and planet in their efforts to increase sustainability. The students will spend four weeks in Tecpan, Chimaltenango supporting the community as they prepare their land for planting.

Education can empower individuals and communities to create equity and justice. You’ll investigate how governments, nonprofits, and individuals use education to meet the needs of growing communities. Your group will work to provide support to English teachers in public schools to understand education in rural Costa Rica. You’ll live with local families and learn how parents and their children are affected by education. TBB students work in schools in the Guanacaste Province, alongside English teachers in classrooms as teachers’ assistants. Program Leaders teach seminars on Education to contextualize what students are seeing in local classrooms, to provide a global back drop, and to connect student’s experiences in Costa Rica to their personal experiences in education back home.  Combined, the unit creates a dynamic picture that highlights the complexities within education that can make it either an oppressive or liberating force around the world.