Verto Education

Spring of 2020, I was beyond excited to go to Costa Rica, but like most things this year covid has taken that opportunity away. To say the least when Verto offered a hybrid semester as an option I figured why not it's something to do and it'll help for next spring 2021. I was not expecting this semester to be overall very fun and inviting. Even though being online sucks again not expecting to make a good amount of connections with classmates that I think will last a long time, great thing is I'll see most of them next semester as well in Costa Rica! Huge coodos to Verto staff for working so hard behind the scenes to provide a great experience overall for us students!

Obviously, like the rest of my classmates, I had wanted to travel abroad. I had to finish my senior year online and I was ready to go back to learning in person. Because of the pandemic, Verto was not able to send anyone abroad. I found the mission of Verto to be interesting so I decided to do the online semester. They hadn’t run an online semester before. They, like the students, wanted to be traveling abroad. Verto had to find teachers, find an online platform we could use, split all of the students into cohorts, and come up with activities to make the semester fun. I believe they found great teachers for the semester. The teachers that I had were all very understanding and relatable to the students. We had speakers, clubs, and we were even able to do activities like a murder mystery game. Ideally, we all would’ve been traveling abroad this semester, but Verto did a great job of pulling off an online semester.

Verto admission representatives visited my high school college fair; I approached their booth, and immediately felt a connection as soon as we started talking. After speaking with them, I felt an immense warmth of positivity. Everything about the program perfectly appealed to me so of course I was so eager to sign up! The semester started online in September of 2020, and I expected it to be not as monumental as it has been. With the addition of having many events, games, speakers, and student lead clubs outside the part of academics it was always made the program super fun! I've learned so much this semester by building friendships with my fellow students; I must give credit where it is due the pinnacle of my success was having the support and encouragement of the amazingly awesome Verto staff from Community Guru and Program Leader to professors and academic counselors. This year of 2020 and unique Hybrid Verto Semester has been an influential experience, and wouldn't have chosen any other path. Besides with Verto I'll be able to travel this coming Spring. I definitely recommend doing your study abroad with Verto Education because the knowledge that you gain from it is truly extraordinary. Through Verto your opportunities are endless and your adventures will be legendary!

This was my first time traveling outside of the U.S. and it was life changing. This trip was a great way to make new connections because you never know who you will meet along your journey. I had met individuals that were all so unique in their own ways and so full of knowledge wether they be my teachers, my cohort, guides, or even natives. Taking into account what these amazing people have taught me, they left me with a new purpose. Because of this trip I now have a new initiative which is to start my own business that will make a change.

I found out about Verto Education at a time in my life when I really needed to know that there was another way for me to begin life after high school. I feel so lucky to have been able to travel with Verto as it was a truly challenging and rewarding experience that made me a better and more educated person. Not only is it great for earning college credit and learning in new and strange environments, but it's extremely fun and you'll meet so many great people that become so important to you. Every experience is probably one you've never done before and one that you'll remember forever.