Meaningful Connections Through Meaningful Service

Our students engage in meaningful community service projects all over Costa Rica with local Ticos. This allows them to connect with different populations in need and learn to value their own contributions as well as the relationships that one can develop with any human being.

Bridge students will do at least 50 hours of community service, and easily reach 150 before they graduate.

A couple of students recently shared a morning with the center for special needs in our town, where they made breakfast, danced and taught them some English. The gratitude and bond was visible and reciprocal.

Seeing the smiles on their faces when we were interacting with them. How appreciative they were, how much they enjoyed having us there. I’m passionate about working with people with special needs, and doing that in a different country was amazing. Every time I do something like that, I appreciate my life and these people so much.

I’ve worked with special ed students before, they’ve only been younger students than me. Getting to see adults with disabilities, functioning within a structure but happily. Being able to provide them with learning a new language, and seeing them behave like any other class I’ve taught before was interesting. Being able to cook for them was amazing, because they all appreciated the effort and they made that known.