Brightsmith said. “We tour a hydroelectric facility and hospitals, medical clinics, and veterinary clinics. There are a variety of educational experiences and fun outings.” A bonus of the program is that students can fulfill 16 credit hours of coursework from the time they land in Costa Rica until the end of the semester. Courses include “One Health and Ecology in the Tropics,” microbiology, genetics, writing, and Spanish communication. Brightsmith said this puts many students at an advantage, because being able to complete a full class schedule while abroad keeps many on track to graduate. “I’ve had more than one student of mine return and tell me they get to graduate early because of the program,” Brightsmith said. “Students also have the opportunity to gain internship and shadowing credits.” In addition, students complete a semester-long research project related to the broad subject of health and how human, animal, and environment challenges overlap in Costa Rica, the United States, and abroad. For the project, students must employ their problem-solving skills to propose a mitigation strategy, or what they think would help reduce the threats from this risk. A large part of the coursework includes the exposure to Spanish culture and language. While the three-weeklong Spanish courses are largely responsible for teaching students the basics of the language, Brightsmith said the majority of the learning and application takes place during the students’ home stays with Costa Rican families. Students in Costa Rica
Students in Costa Rica
“Culture and language are a super important part of the program,” Brightsmith said. “I’ve had people say they’ve learned Spanish more and how to use it better in those three weeks of home stays than they have throughout all of the education they’ve had related to Spanish.” While educational growth takes place, Brightsmith said transformative personal growth also takes place in the students, which is evident in the field journal entries students are required to record throughout the semester. Brightsmith said the journals help document how the cultural and social experiences alter how students think throughout the trip. “Because I read all of these journals, I get to see the evolution of these students, and they change throughout the semester,” Brightsmith said. “In many cases they grow, and I get to track that growth, which is really cool.” Brightsmith said the biggest lesson he hopes students take from this experience is to stop, look around, and truly learn from the people and world around them. “An important mantra for my program is ‘No sleepwalking,’” Brightsmith said. “It is so easy to float through life without really analyzing and learning from what is going on around you. “At the beginning of the semester, many of the students are not really accustomed to thinking critically about where they are and what is going on around them,” he said. “However, by the end of the semester we have a group of students who are keenly aware of both how they are impacting the environment around them and how this environment is impacting them. It is an incredible to watch this transformation.” ■ FALL 2018 \\ BIMS MAGAZINE | 33