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by Dr. Danny Recio
Young adulthood is a crucial time to shape one’s identity. We know that. And we know that when young adults feel lost and strangers to themselves is bad news. There’s a lot that can be said about how young adults develop their identity, but for us here at The Bridge one avenue is fundamental: you find something within you, a gift, a talent, a skill, and you figure out a way to have that fulfill a need in the world around you.
Why is something so simple so powerful at the same time? Because...
- Humans have a deep need to matter; this means to feel valued and to add value. In other words, we want to be appreciated and feel accepted in a group, and at the same time want to be recognized as a contributing unique individual in that group.
- Skills, talents and gifts that flow from within feel pleasurable and often effortless when put to action. We all have character traits and tendencies that make us more suitable for some tasks, relationships, environments, etc. When we become aware of those and find the courage to let those inner skills and preferences organize our life choices, people tend to feel energized, motivated, and fulfilled.
- At The Bridge, we provide a safe and fun real-life laboratory for our students to experiment all kinds of ways of being in the world. They meet all kinds of people from different walks of life, they are exposed to different challenges, and they are offered numerous individualized opportunities for them to figure out when they feel “in the zone” or “at home” in the world, with themselves, with what they are doing or with how they interact with others. As guides and companions in their journey, we are attuned to noticing when they seem to be in that zone or that flow, when they are “at home” doing something.
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Thanks to all of our collaborators who helped us build these two amazing 2-person apartments for the "Summit" (transition) phase of the Bridge. Now, students can practice true independent living before heading off to college, the work world or wherever their next step takes them! Bridge participants implement all they have learned in budgeting, menu planning, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, organizing their time and responsibilities as well as living with roommates. And they do it all in these beautiful apartments just down the hill from The Bridge house. Pura vida!
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It's been a long time coming... a year, actually. But we are gearing up to reopen Casa Bridge at the end of June 2021. The pandemic has certainly created an obstacle that has tested our patience and our ability to walk the talk of navigating whatever life throws our way. That said, we are grateful to be announcing that the Bridge house will be opening in a few short weeks.
What will change? What will stay the same?
We've been meeting with our team for weeks to determine just how much we can immerse ourselves in this pandemic world. Certainly being vaccinated helps, but Costa Rica is slower than most at accomplishing these world-wide goals of vaccination and immunity. We feel good about the options we have to offer, especially for those young men who need to complete a couple of high school credits (and can do so at NSA) and want to experience a gap semester or year abroad to get themselves ready for college or the work world.
HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS: If you are a senior or just need a few credits to graduate high school, you could finish up your diploma at New Summit Academy in the mornings while participating in Spanish immersion, internships, &/or college classes at Universidad Veritas in the afternoons.
COLLEGE CLASSES: Although enrolling in college classes takes a couple to a few weeks to facilitate, it's definitely an option for our Bridge young adults.
- Universidad Veritasstudyabroad.veritas.cr/ is the most flexible option with a plethora of unique class options as well as 4 to 8 week Spanish intensive options.
- Texas Tech has a campus that can offer semester options once a high school diploma is completed.
- Arizona State University offers dual enrollment and college options as well from their partnership with U Latina in Costa Rica.
INTERNSHIPS: If participants are vaccinated, then the world opens up to them. There are a variety of internships that are open and welcoming vaccinated students as long as they follow protocols for hygiene and mask-wearing with clients. So if working at a vet clinic, wildlife refuge, woodworking shop, coffee farm, automechanics shop, physical therapy office, or IT / computer shop sounds interesting, then you may be in business! Other options like teaching English at an elementary school, working at a hotel, etc. will be opening up shortly.
BRIDGE LIVING: The daily life of a Bridge participant hasn't changed much.
- There are still full days of activities, group planning and budgeting of weekend recreation, cultural immersion and Aventuras, opportunities for service, group meal planning, grocery shopping, and individual guidance in coaching sessions as well as planning a healthy lifestyle (including fitness, socializing, productive "work" time, and group support).
- The Bridge house is as awesome as it's ever been with plenty of space, the recreational area for pool and ping pong, and outdoor gardens, meeting deck and gorgeous views.
- Our staff mentors are here and waiting for your arrival to build strong mentoring relationships and friendship.
- Participants are still able to bring a phone and a laptop to support their learning, organization, and communication.
So what are you waiting for? If this sounds like an opportunity to you, we're here. Email us today.
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by Dr. Danny Recio, PhD
The Bridge ~ Costa Rica will begin a hibernation period as our last student returns to the USA on July 17, 2020. For how long? We are not sure yet; it could be a few weeks, but it could end up being longer than that. The progression of the pandemic will dictate our actions.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we decided to remain committed to guiding our enrolled students to appropriate closure of their process with us. And we have. We exercised tons of creative power to provide them with the best experience given the circumstances. And now, as Costa Rica’s borders are staying closed, and strict guidelines of social distancing continue, we feel it is best not to take any new students for the time being.
It felt important to our integrity to stay on with the students we had, and it feels important to our integrity now to only take students until we can fulfill our mission in the way we have designed it; or until we design something else. The Bridge has been designed to have the world be the main therapist and teacher: the ride in the public bus into the city, the journey and immersion in a rural community, the local friendships, the perfect internship with a caring mentor, going to college in a foreign country. Those are all attenuated or dormant under our current conditions.
So, we have decided to take a nap…and do what people do when they sleep: reenergize, dream, assimilate information and learn from experiences lived!
As I begin to reflect on these experiences lived, tons of images flash through my head and I experience immense satisfaction at feeling like we have fulfilled our mission:
“to support societal and global wellbeing through providing small scale experiences that will guide young adults to become more responsible, fulfilled and compassionate members of society on a larger scale”
Thus, just like the world has been our main therapist and teacher, it is for the world that we have worked hard for the past 8 years. Yes, for the young men of course! But not so they become more self-centered and focused on their own pleasure seeking, but so they become empowered agents of change, so they realize that the world needs their own unique talents, even if they felt most of their life they had no talents or direction, and had to come all the way to a foreign land to find them.
I am convinced this is a good mission, and we have data from our participants, publications, and research to support it. I am sure this mission will prevail because it helps its primary clients, it helps the world, it is resilient and it is adaptive. We are immensely thankful to all of you who have participated of our community. Rest assured that we will improve this mission and continue it, like the life that magically springs in a forest after a devastating fire.
And yet, I wonder if when the day arrives, I will feel like we are taking a nap or we are waking up from an 8 year dream. If that is so, I am sure I will regard it as one the most amazing dreams I have ever had…
Thank you all for your continued support of The Bridge - Costa Rica. We do believe that now, more than ever, the cross-cultural experiences that we provide are crucial to awakening empathy, equality, equity and life long learning and connection.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we decided to remain committed to guiding our enrolled students to appropriate closure of their process with us. And we have. We exercised tons of creative power to provide them with the best experience given the circumstances. And now, as Costa Rica’s borders are staying closed, and strict guidelines of social distancing continue, we feel it is best not to take any new students for the time being.
It felt important to our integrity to stay on with the students we had, and it feels important to our integrity now to only take students until we can fulfill our mission in the way we have designed it; or until we design something else. The Bridge has been designed to have the world be the main therapist and teacher: the ride in the public bus into the city, the journey and immersion in a rural community, the local friendships, the perfect internship with a caring mentor, going to college in a foreign country. Those are all attenuated or dormant under our current conditions.
So, we have decided to take a nap…and do what people do when they sleep: reenergize, dream, assimilate information and learn from experiences lived!
As I begin to reflect on these experiences lived, tons of images flash through my head and I experience immense satisfaction at feeling like we have fulfilled our mission:
“to support societal and global wellbeing through providing small scale experiences that will guide young adults to become more responsible, fulfilled and compassionate members of society on a larger scale”
Thus, just like the world has been our main therapist and teacher, it is for the world that we have worked hard for the past 8 years. Yes, for the young men of course! But not so they become more self-centered and focused on their own pleasure seeking, but so they become empowered agents of change, so they realize that the world needs their own unique talents, even if they felt most of their life they had no talents or direction, and had to come all the way to a foreign land to find them.
I am convinced this is a good mission, and we have data from our participants, publications, and research to support it. I am sure this mission will prevail because it helps its primary clients, it helps the world, it is resilient and it is adaptive. We are immensely thankful to all of you who have participated of our community. Rest assured that we will improve this mission and continue it, like the life that magically springs in a forest after a devastating fire.
And yet, I wonder if when the day arrives, I will feel like we are taking a nap or we are waking up from an 8 year dream. If that is so, I am sure I will regard it as one the most amazing dreams I have ever had…
Thank you all for your continued support of The Bridge - Costa Rica. We do believe that now, more than ever, the cross-cultural experiences that we provide are crucial to awakening empathy, equality, equity and life long learning and connection.
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Listen as Danny tries to tell us about the Bridge in under 13 - yes, 13!- minutes!
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So we can't go on Aventura and immerse in Costa Rican communities, as we usually do. .
But do you think that means we are going to just sit home and watch TV? Absolutely not!! Here are our young men, giving back to our community by preparing food baskets for those in need. But that's not all... watch them rolling up their sleeves to create a beautiful trails and gardens on our reserve... as well also connecting with peers all over the world who are doing the same!
But do you think that means we are going to just sit home and watch TV? Absolutely not!! Here are our young men, giving back to our community by preparing food baskets for those in need. But that's not all... watch them rolling up their sleeves to create a beautiful trails and gardens on our reserve... as well also connecting with peers all over the world who are doing the same!
... and...
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Dr. Danny Recio & Dr. Heather Tracy collaboratively published this article in the Journal of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (2020). It's now live online, so please read the research highlighting alumni comments and reflections about the skills they learned & the growth they gained at the Bridge and in Costa Rica in general. Thanks to the main author - Kurt Youngberg, from University of West Georgia - for all of your hard work compiling, analyzing and coding these interviews!
Abstract: In an era of globalization and rapidly evolving cultural changes, traditional support structures are struggling to equip our youth with the necessary competencies for a successful transition into adulthood. A thematic analysis was performed on interviews of participants of a therapeutic gap program providing what is known as “Supportive Immersion,” an approach to experiential transformative learning where facilitators and learners co-create experiences of learning.
Findings show two main points:
1) participants’ articulation of their perceived personal growth and skill development supported the positive impact of their cross-cultural supportive gap experience, and
2) the five themes identified (PROPS) described characteristics and skill sets of an “integrative learner,” which directly relate to preparing young adults for recent changes in societal trends.
This study demonstrated the outcomes and effectiveness of guided, supported crosscultural immersion experiences. Keywords: Cross-Cultural, Emerging Adults, Supportive Immersion, GapYear, Transitions
Findings show two main points:
1) participants’ articulation of their perceived personal growth and skill development supported the positive impact of their cross-cultural supportive gap experience, and
2) the five themes identified (PROPS) described characteristics and skill sets of an “integrative learner,” which directly relate to preparing young adults for recent changes in societal trends.
This study demonstrated the outcomes and effectiveness of guided, supported crosscultural immersion experiences. Keywords: Cross-Cultural, Emerging Adults, Supportive Immersion, GapYear, Transitions
Cite this article: Youngberg, K., Recio, D., & Tracy, H. (2020). Supportive Immersion: The Use of Transformative Cross-Cultural Experiential Learning to Address Social Trends in the 21st Century. Journal of Therapeutic Schools and Programs, XII, 117–138. doi: 10.19157/JTSP.issue.12.01.07
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Because of The Bridge's innovative methods of engaging its students in processes of transformative experiential learning, our program director and founder, Dr. Danny Recio, was summoned to be part of a commission for the innovation of public education in Costa Rica. As an outcome of this adventure, Danny was appointed to represent the commission's shared ideals at a TEDx event in San Jose, Costa Rica.
This talk uses elements of situated learning, embodied cognition, systems theory and constructivism to suggest practical ways to integrate the social and environmental spaces into education. The main goal of the talk is to empower those who may appear to be in the periphery of education, and encourage them to participate in a bottom-up process of education. It is suggested this is done mainly by becoming aware of and guiding learning that is already happening naturally, outside of the classroom and the lesson plan.
While this is very difficult to do in traditional learning settings, and requires massive efforts at various levels of society, The Bridge is designed to attend to and highlight such learning. As such, The Bridge can be considered as a prime example of a living ecosystem of learning. The Bridge focuses the learning experience on those who are typically on the periphery, starting with the students themselves, who in traditional settings are often only recipients of information, and not producers of transformation for themselves and others.
Involving many communities and making The Bridge house's walls permeable, as Danny says in the talk, is another essential element that makes the program unique and a great example of this type of learning. But above all, The Bridge staff are attuned to pick up on and co-create real-time experiential moments for learning, which focus on process, empowerment, empathy and learning that propels further learning.
While this is very difficult to do in traditional learning settings, and requires massive efforts at various levels of society, The Bridge is designed to attend to and highlight such learning. As such, The Bridge can be considered as a prime example of a living ecosystem of learning. The Bridge focuses the learning experience on those who are typically on the periphery, starting with the students themselves, who in traditional settings are often only recipients of information, and not producers of transformation for themselves and others.
Involving many communities and making The Bridge house's walls permeable, as Danny says in the talk, is another essential element that makes the program unique and a great example of this type of learning. But above all, The Bridge staff are attuned to pick up on and co-create real-time experiential moments for learning, which focus on process, empowerment, empathy and learning that propels further learning.