Courtesy of Kristen Thomson
Mrs. Thomson and the group of sophomores, juniors and seniors who went on this year’s Costa Rica trip.On Aug. 27, 19 students traveled to Costa Rica with AP Environmental Science teacher Kristen Thomson in a five-day conservation effort at the biologically rich Osa Peninsula in the nation’s southwest coast. The main goal of the trip was to collaborate with the Osa Conservation Program and give students hands-on experience learning about sustainability.
The Costa Rica trip was begun in 2015 by Daviana and Danielle Berkowitz, two Costa Rica-born Class of 2017 alumni, along with their mother Beth. Ever since then, the trip has become an annual school project. Along with organizing activities and supporting the group during the trip, the Berkowitz family models dedication to conservation work to students by emphasizing the balance between socio-economic development and environmental conservation.
Similar to previous years, the group’s main focus was on preserving and protecting endangered nesting sea turtles. Students went on night patrols to watch sea turtles lay eggs, along with relocating eggs and doing health checks.
On one health check, the students saw a juvenile hawksbill turtle with fishing lines wrapped around it. Fortunately, the team found the turtle in time, before the fishing lines caused any serious harm. The program staff removed the lines safely and sent the turtle back into the ocean, speculating it was likely entangled within an hour before because the strings had not yet started cutting into its skin.
Courtesy of Kristen Thomson
OSA Conservation Program staff cut fishing lines wrapped on a hawksbill turtle.
This year, participants were even lucky enough to see turtle hatchlings, a rare event that is not seen every year.
“You can’t control nature,” Thomson said. “Last year, they had no hatchlings, but they had so many females coming on to lay eggs. I’ve never seen so many before.”
The students made sure the hatchlings safely reached the ocean by standing near the area and watching out for predatory birds.
Aside from sea turtles, the trip focused on reforestation and sustainable agricultural practices, two of the key concepts taught in APES. The students visited a sustainable farm, planted mangroves, which help estuary ecosystems, and worked at an outreach program with fifth graders at a local school.
“Costa Rica is one of the few places on Earth that is actually reversing deforestation and engaging in active conservation efforts,” senior Andre Popa said. “We also learned how to actively help species that are going on the trend of extinction.”
For Popa, the trip was an eye-opening experience. One of his most memorable experiences came from the second night of patrolling the beach and looking for nesting turtles.
“We could, for the first time in my life, actually see full stars and galaxies with no light pollution,” Popa said. “[This trip] was really hard work and really fun.”
