Costa Rica | Open-Enrollment: Leadership Intensive

It was an amazing program. My daughter came back with compassion, love and confidence.
They spent four weeks at a village and learned how to build house, how to milk the cow, how to make sugar from sugar cane... It is such a unique experience. In four weeks, they successfully built a community center for the village. They all cried when they left. Besides this, they have two weeks to stay with local families who only speaks Spanish. My daughter's Spanish got improved a lot! Also she started to be interested in Spanish culture. It was an amazing trip. GR did a wonderful job to make it safe and fun! It is a great team to work with. As a whole, if you are looking for a summer program for your high schooler, go for it!

If I had another child, I would definitely send him/her there.

My son was a Global Routes student in summer 2022. He was extremely nervous and more than a little scared about going on his first long adventure by himself, especially after 2+ years of Covid that made everyone way too comfortable going nowhere and not making social connections. It was very hard for him to say goodbye and then embrace all the new people and experiences. The staff, his host family and the other students were incredibly open, accepting, warm and gracious with him. They helped him find a successful pathway through what ended up being an extraordinary adventure. With support, he was able to embrace the hard parts, really enjoy the good stuff and grow tremendously.
When he arrived home, he was transformed. He feels more confident and comfortable in his own skin. This is visibly evident – he stands taller and is much more willing to try new things. For example, on his own initiative he decided to try out for the soccer team, which we feel he would not have been open to before his Global Routes experience.

This trip was by far the greatest trip that I have ever been on, and the greatest experience that I have ever had. I got to be with a group of people with the majority of them being some of the best friends that I have while traveling Costa Rica and going on amazing, super fun adventure and also immersing ourselves in the culture there. The trip was a 10/10 for me because all of the activities that we did were super fun, and even when we weren’t doing any activities I was still having fun which was definitely partially due to the amazing group that I was with. From this trip you also gain many new, life-changing perspectives that help you to grow as a person. I would without any question fully recommend this trip to anyone that is interested.

This LIA program was one of the best experiences of my life so far and I'm not just saying that. I learned, grew, and had so much fun on this trip. When we got to the town I met my host family and I am still keeping in touch with the people I met there. My host family was amazing and my Spanish improved a lot. I connected with the kids there doing the Friendship Camp even with limited Spanish skills and it was so fun. I am so happy I met the people in the town and also broadened my friendships with the other LIAs. Overall, this was an amazing experience and I really do recommend it to any teens who want to connect with a new community as they help out and immerse themselves in a new culture. Especially for Windsor Mountain people, this is a perfect follow up to LIT year but really it would be great for anyone.

The Global Routes program exceeded any expectations I had and gave my summer a purpose. I was in an environment where I had to try new things, which lead me to discover new things I never thought I would enjoy. For example hiking. I dove into learning about a culture through experience and from the first day felt so welcomed by the community we were staying with. My Global Routes experience was amazing and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who is interested. At first I was hesitant to choose the Global Routes LIA trip. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my summer, and going away to a different country without my family seemed frightening. I had a service requirement for my school, so I had to do something, but everything that I found wasn’t exactly how I wanted to spend my summer. When I finally considered doing the Global Routes trip, I really loved how I could bring something I love to kids who may not get to experience the luxury of going to camp every summer. What also sold me about the program, was how we, the students, got to create the summer camp ourselves, unlike any other program.

The summer I did this trip was one of the best summers of my life. This trip as influence me in so many ways. I have made so many life long friends, tried new things, and learned so much while on the trip. Getting to immerse in a new culture and really become part of a community was life changing.

One big thing on this trip was the chance to create our own summer camp and work with children. As someone who wishes to go into education this experience was extremely valuable. Running the camp taught me how to work in a group and how to communicate better with others.

Parents and students should take this trip as an opportunity to grow as a person. The Global Routes programs give students the awesome and unique opportunities to really experience a new culture and become part of the community.

When I was 17 I traveled with this organization to do traveling theater in Europe (a program that no longer exists). It was one of the most influential, life changing experiences of my life to that point. It was instrumental in me developing the values that I have today (and really making me cognizent of living those values). The organization emphasizes personal growth, development, and leadership. They take you out of your comfort zone just enough to be a challenge and still fun.

In my 20s, I came back to the program as a leader. All leaders are trained in experiential education, and are selected from a large, qualified pool of talented applicants. They work hard to make sure everyone has a good time, and that everyone is accepted and met (and challenged) at their level.

Global Routes is a fantastic organization. If you're thinking about a summer travel program for teens, they should definitely be at or near the top of your list.

I gave every category on this review a 10 because this trip was incredible. Although it was some time ago, it was one of the highlights of my entire adolescence. This was not only because of how much fun we had, but also because I was able to grow tremendously. And this was was not only internal awakening from visiting a place with so many underprivileged people. This trip, followed by one to South Africa the following year, really played a major role in the development of my leadership and teamwork abilities.

Thanks to our three leaders, there we’re never any safety issues, and everyone in our group had tons of support.

I’m confident that many other people in the group with me would have similar feedback. It was an ideal trip.