The SCLC has always put a lot of emphasis on bird education with the local youth. We are able to re-vitalize our Bird Club Program with the arrival of Marcela Valdivia, a volunteer from Perú who has done significant field work in the Rain Forest of Bolivia. As a biologist and avid bird lover she has extensive knowledge of birds from all over the world. Every Saturday the Bird Club meets to raise interest and improve their bird identification skills. After birding the students return to the center to write letters to our Pen Pals at the Mulberry Elementary School in Kingston, Ontario where we have initiated a letter writing and art exchange program where students will share about the birds they see in their daily lives, including migratory species.

In the Bird Club we will be implementing the Bird Sleuth Project created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. We will be using the curriculum from this project to add a new dimension to birding which make it fun and interesting for the students.  Information about the project is now online on the Bird Sleuth website:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdsleuth 

Since this past January the SCLC has completed a large number of important community activities that contribute to our overarching objective of linking communities with conservation through education and ecotourism. In just two months, the SCLC has made some remarkable achievements with our community development projects and tourism activities!
 
During this time the SCLC has completed:

• 23 cooking classes for 395 people;

• 14 dance classes for 153 people;

• 8 service projects with 162 participants;

• 6 Speaches from community members about their lives and work to 101 people;

• 5 Local Homestay groups for 67 tourists;

•3 reforestation programs with 61 people involved planting almond and soto de caballo trees; and

•3 Introductions to the SCLC

  The service projects were particularly successful and a lot was accomplished!
 
 
In May, the Avalon School group, from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada had some remarkable interactions with local schools, including Chilamate and Bajos de Chilamate.  The school also brought down many backpacks filled with school supplies and toothbrushes as well as a near $9000 donation for the Center that will be used to support two scholarship students and buy new computers for the Center and After-School program. We hope to develop relationships with the school and conduct Skype-based interactions between the two groups. This is an amazingly kind donation, which will be extremely helpful...and popular!
 
In June, a group of teachers participating in a visit with Global Explorers helped advance the sidewalk from the Chilamate School toward the center by 16 meters! It may not sound like much, but making cement by hand in the blazing sun is hard work.  Thanks to them for their help that will keep our students just a little safer.
 
Additionally in June we had a group of high school students visit us from Holton Arms Academy in Maryland with the World Leadership School. This notable group stayed in the community of El Roble for 8 days and completed some impressive work while having a great time.  The group totally revitalized the formerly dilapidated greenhouse, constructed a valuable two-compartment compost bin, and built a computer lab at the elementary school Kay Rica in El Roble (computers on their way!).
 
Another outstanding group of students, this time from Brooklyn, NY via Adventures Under the Sun, worked with a local landowner in El Roble and helped install a biodigestor! The biodigestor will collect manure, capture the methane, and then transport this gas directly to the house where the gas will be used for cooking. Talk about sustainability and conservation in action!
 
Finally, earlier in the year, the SCLC received a visit by the organization Ambassadors for Children. This group inspired and helped advance the development of two new classrooms at the Bajos de Chilamate School.  They also brought down an $800+ donation for the school that helped prepare the two new rooms that are almost ready for use. The Ambassadors are going to continue to raise funds back in the US until the classrooms are complete!
 
We have had a vast number of other people donate boxes, bags, and suitcases full of school supplies as well.  As we start a new semester we plan on getting these supplies to the schools and to needy students. 
 
We have also received monetary donations from the Saltus Grammar School in Bermuda who generously donated $1000 USD toward the After-School Program and Ecology club of the SCLC.
 
Huge thanks are in order for all the hard work and support these many, many people provide to the SCLC. We kindly thank you!

Students in Costa Rica attend school between February and December so they have about 2 whole months off with very little to do. In January of this year the center provided the students from the neighbooring communities with a two week multicultural camp where we focused on the environment, art, culture, and exercise.

The students were involved in a myriad of activities with an emphasis on environmental conservation throughout the camp. Recycling was a major theme at the camp; the students created maracas, rain sticks, pinyatas, and pin wheels out of recycled material. Students made their own personal passports with their photo and the countries they plan on visiting. Students made picture frames out of fallen tree branches where they inserted pictures of them in the400 year old giant Almond Tree at Selva Verde Lodge.  We visited our good friends over at Chilamate Jungle Eco Lodge (http://www.chilamaterainforest.com/index.php?option=pros) where the kids created signs about being eco friendly to put up around the trails at the lodge. The kids went on a nature hike with a Naturialist guide where they learned about the medicinal plants found in their backyards. The studens learned how to make braceletes and necklaces out of materials in the center and wore them proudly. The students learned how to do yoga and Capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, music, and dance) and learned about the Food Pyramid. 

All the volunteers were able to participate in the camp which gave them all a great introduction to life in Sarapiquí. All the students still visit us daily for the After School Program so it is nice to still be able to see their friendly faces!