July 28th - August 3rd, 2024
The Children's Eternal Rainforest, Costa Rica
In 2024, Friends of the Rainforest hosted our very first Crandell-Waller Scholarship Study Abroad trip. We were thrilled to partner with St. Louis organization, Black Girls Do STEM (BGDSTEM), an organization dedicated to increasing the representation of black women and girls in STEM-related fields. Beginning in middle school, BGDSTEM supports their students through college with ACT test preparation, mentoring services, math/science tutoring, internship experiences, and more.
Friends of the Rainforest's Scholarship Program covered the costs for 8 high school girls and 2 chaperones from BGDSTEM to travel down to the Children's Eternal Rainforest. This included the program costs, airfare, passport fees, and equipment costs. We were joined by 5 other family members who we were able to welcome at a discounted price thanks to the generosity of Natural Solutions CR.
Pre-Departure Lessons & Workshops
In the months leading up to the trip to Costa Rica, FOTR hosted four Saturday workshops for our BGDSTEM cohort and their families. These lessons helped prime our students with knowledge and experiences that would be extremely beneficial to their time in Costa Rica.
Lesson 1: Introduction to Biodiversity and Rainforest Ecology at Thomas Dunn Learning Center. This initial lesson was spent mostly in the classroom covering introductory concepts like life biomes, geology, succession, and more, with accompanying outdoor activities.
Lesson 2: Lesson 2 was spent outside at Gravois Creek in Synder Park. Students identified macroinvertebrates and conducted water quality sampling with the support of Brian Waldrop, an aquatic biologist from the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Stream Team program.
Lesson 3: Introduction to Biodiversity and Rainforest Ecology at Thomas Dunn Learning Center (Part 2). This lesson covered introductory concepts like species interaction, mutualism, and chemical cycling and included outside activities practicing citizen science.
Lesson 4: Audubon Center. For this final session, FOTR invited all parents and other BGDSTEM participants to join us at the Audubon Center for birding with Dr. Rick Essner from Southern Illinois University, a tour of the center, activities with the education staff at Audubon, and more!
Lesson 5: Students learned about environmental justice, cultural appreciation, and the impact human activity has on the natural world. This lesson was originally going to take place at Cahokia Mounds in Illinois, but we had to cancel due to rain. Our presentations were then rescheduled for classroom time while in the rainforest.
Our Time in Costa Rica
Our group was joined in Costa Rica by our incredibly knowledgeable local guides, Dr. Jeff Norris, Eduardo Caravaca, and Fabio Araya, as well as two of Dr. Norris’ international students from the United World College in San Jose who acted as mentors and friends to our BGDSTEM students.
Our group spent one full week in Costa Rica, with most of our time spent at Pocosol Field Station, on the Caribbean side of the Children’s Eternal Rainforest at about 720 meters above sea level. Pocosol is ideal for students and rainforest enthusiasts as it features primary and secondary forest with an incredible diversity of birds, frogs, reptiles, and mammals.
Every day began with birdwatching and breakfast on the patio, followed by a short classroom presentation to complement the things our students were seeing and experiencing in the rainforest. Dr. Jeff Norris presented on the history and biodiversity of the CER. Bat expert Fabio Araya gave our students an in-depth presentation about the bats of the CER. FOTR staff Sophie and Tori gave presentations on the human impact on the environment and environmental justice (originally scheduled for lesson 5 in St. Louis).
The remainder of each day was spent exploring the many trails around Pocosol, helping set out and maintain camera traps, conducting field research, and working on independent research projects the students presented on our final night at Pocosol.
Projects varied depending on the girls’ interests. Students were able to reinforce what they learned at our Stream Teams pre-departure lesson and worked with Tori in the stream to conduct water quality sampling and identify macroinvertebrates. One of our students, Mikayla, received school credit for her stream science work after returning to St. Louis! Other projects included beautiful poetry and personal artwork that demonstrated the true connection that the girls were making to the rainforest.
Our final night in Costa Rica was spent in La Fortuna by the Arenal Volcano. After a long week of roughing it in the rainforest, our students were treated to a relaxing evening soak at the Baldi Hot Springs, a favorite destination for many of our ecotour participants.
In the early morning on August 3rd, we headed back to San Jose and the airport and flew back to St. Louis, MO (some of us did not get back until August 4th due to flight delays).
BGDSTEM Students' Independent Projects
BGDSTEM 2025 Scholarship Program in Photos
This program was made possible by our generous donors and partners:
