WEST JEFFERSON HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS — THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL
est Jefferson Hills
WEST JEFFERSON HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
Immersed in Costa Rica ’ s Rich Culture and Biodiversity By Camryn Dailey
I was way too close to Justin Bieber for my liking .
Justin Bieber - the 13-foot crocodile - not to be confused with Justin Bieber , the musical sensation . This Justin Bieber had 60 teeth and was running through the water toward the tour guide faster than I knew a crocodile could run , so close to me that I could have reached over the boat to pet him . Not that I wanted to , but I could have .
I did want to pet the cats that lived in the hotel and the dog named Jack that belonged to the ziplining facility . I did want to pet the sloths that hung in the trees over the paths I walked , or pet the monkeys that were so used to humans that they ’ d been known to walk alongside you and let you know they wanted food .
Costa Rica , a country a little smaller in size than West Virginia , is home to 64 percent of the world ’ s biodiversity , and I had the pleasure to experience it - and everything else Costa Rica had to offer - along with other Thomas Jefferson High School students .
The TJ Spanish department took 16 students and two chaperones on a fiveday tour of Costa Rica in June , visiting the capitol city , San José , and venturing further southwest to the town of Jaco . After the cancellation of TJ ’ s 2020 trip to Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic , this adventure served as the first international field trip
by Thomas Jefferson students in four years and was open to any high school student .
Three days before departure , head chaperone and high school Spanish teacher , Mr . Zachary Bonatesta , tested positive for COVID-19 , and with a heavy heart , he passed down his supervisory duties to Mr . Michael Kilcoyne , a counselor at the high school . He led the trip along with his wife Monica , who teaches at Pleasant Hills Middle School . They were already scheduled to chaperone the trip prior to Mr . Bonatesta ’ s illness .
After six hours of flying , along with a sprint through the Charlotte airport , we landed in San José . There , we met our Explorica tour guide , Ceidy Sandi . Our first stop ? A Walmart . On the way to the hotel , we stopped to pick up snacks and trade some of our money for the Costa Rican currency - colones . The first night was quiet ; we stayed in the hotel enjoying the pool
and our first meal , resting up after a long day and gearing up for the next .
I ’ ve been scared of ziplining ever since a childhood nightmare , but I figured that if I was ever going to get over it , it might as well be through the Costa Rican forests . The next morning we got on the bus - where we met our driver for the rest of the tour , Felix - and drove two hours to Jaco where we would spend the next two days , starting with the zipline experience .
We were strapped up in harnesses and hardhats and completed a brief training before taking a lift to the start of the route . On the way up , we learned about some of Costa Rica ’ s climate and wildlife , and saw our first sloth ! Once we reached the top , we completed 10 different lines that grew in length and took us back to the bottom of the mountain . For me personally , it was incredibly rewarding - a bucket list item I ’ d been afraid to cross off for years - and it was one of the most exhilarating moments of the trip .
After seeing wildlife from a distance as we zipped past , our next stop was a park where we could take a moment to truly take in the beauty . Unlike most of the United States , areas are not populated by a large population of a few species , but rather a small number of hundreds of species . It is part of what makes Costa Rica so renowned for its beauty . To see everything exist around each other , and
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