Program Reviews

I went on this trip summer 2019 and it was the best experience of my life. I meet so many cool people from a range of states and countries and I had the opportunity to live with a loving and welcoming host family. The amigos staff was very supportive in our growth and learning and anything else we needed. By living with a host family we were able to fully amerce ourselves in the culture which was one of my favorite parts. I couldn’t have had a better experience and I hope to do another Amigos program in the future.

Our daughter did the CIP in the summer of 2020. The program was excellent - a great balance of skill development, connection with peers and mentors, and practical work connecting with local people in our community.
The work was challenging but well supported, and she developed great connections despite the current physical distancing requirements. She got Spanish language development, design thinking and project planning instruction and mentoring, and support for practicing new experiences like calling up business and community leaders and getting them interested and committed to supporting her project.
At the end of the program she was proud of all the work she had done. She is still excited to talk about how her new confidence and skills open up all kinds of opportunities for her in the future.

We were very lucky to come across this program with almost all other activities being cancelled this summer. This online program taught my teen the skills to become a social activist and how to prepare her own program. Although she has completed the 6 weeks training program, she continues to work on getting her program started with local kids in need. She received excellent feedback from the program managers and her peers. I highly recommend Amigos for your teen that aspires to change the world!

My Amigos experience was one that I will never forget. I like to describe this program as an immersion program because the focus is on creating lasting connections and friendships with people in a different country and immersing yourself into a new culture. I remember stepping off the bus into the community of Juancho, my home for the month, and wondering what I had gotten myself into. However, a few second later, my host mom came and gave me a big hug and told me how excited she was for the summer. This small gesture made such an impact on me and from then on I jumped head-first into one of the best experiences of my life. I spent my month running camps for little kids, playing volleyball with the local teenagers, working on the community project, and bonding with my host family. I grew to be a stronger leader and found myself becoming much more confident in myself. Through this program, I met some of the most creative, innovative, and hard-working people, both in the communities and in the Amigos program. Amigos is completely unique to anything I had every done before and I am so glad I did it!

This program changed my life. It was online but I will never forget. I got to meet new people from all over the world. I learned about their dances, dishes, lifestyle. I got to know about their culture. Moreover, I became more confident, learned how to start a community project and communicate better. I learned that trying is better than doing nothing. You will never know if you can until you start working on it. Learn from your failures, nobody gets it right every time or their first time. I also practiced my Spanish and expanded my vocabulary. I experienced something new. Something that I was afraid to try but I decided to come out of my comfort zone and give it a go. Let me just say, I do not regret my decision. In fact, being part of the first online community impact project was one of the best decisions I made. Thank you!

I felt motivated during the whole program, at first I didn't know that my voice and actions could have such a good imoact in my community and as I was hearing from my peers and their projects I became more and more involved in my community because I noticed the impact that the youth can make, the mentors were amazing and good leaders too, I just think that maybe if there was a way to follow the first steps of the projects after the program ends it can be even more helpfull, but overall I would one hundred porcent recommend it.

The CIP program was a true wonder for its great ability to allow students to connect. Not only were students given the opportunity and guidance to connect to their local community through their self-created projects, but they were also allowed to create connections within themselves and with others from various countries and communities. As someone who was able to see this happen throughout the entire group, I can confidently say that all students left with leadership skills, problem solving skills, more cultural understanding, better Spanish, confidence, and more. It was a blessing to see this program come to life as strongly as it did and I can only see it flourishing in the future.

My daughter wanted a Spanish immersion program and the environmental sustainability focus of the Amigos PZ program caught her eye. As a parent, the 5 month training leading up to departure was key to her success in Costa Rica. The training helped her get comfortable with the idea of being disconnected from home and gave her the confidence that she would know what to do once there. It helped us to know that she would be prepared for anything. The training was culturally sensitive, met the teens where they were at and really focused on teamwork. She grew in so many ways and returned to us with newfound confidence and resilience that she continues to draw on when faced with challenges. Fundraising for "tuition" makes it a more affordable option for study abroad.

My trip to Costa Rica for Amigos was a very interesting and unique experience. During he trip I met a lot of cool people and saw and experienced things that I wouldn't be able to experience in San Francisco. I think that people who are planning on going on doing Amigos should know that there are challenges but there are also lots of great moments that happen during the trips. I recommend it for a way to see something new and to push yourself. A big thumbs up and I wish I could go back and see my host family again.

I had the privilege to serve as a Project Supervisor alongside the rest of the summer staff team and I would describe this opportunity as a once in a lifetime experience. I built the most amazing friendships with the members of my community, volunteers and of course my amazing staff team.

Not only are the members of the community very welcoming but the beauty of Costa Rica's nature is just fascinating. I was able to meet life long friends and build meaningful relationships. As for my incredible volunteers, I got to know them on personal level as I watched them blossom throughout this summer experience. I dedicated myself to providing them with all the support and resources that they needed to be successful leaders in their community, but ultimately they were all natural born leaders. Where they to built unbreakable bonds with their host families as well as learned a lot about themselves. Although I may be a bit challenging for some, I like to think of the quote "Nothing worth having comes easy".

As for the community members that I got to know, their humbleness and willingness to come together to provide an unforgettable experience for the volunteers is what I appreciated the most. They maintained the volunteers well being in mind and treated them just like family.

I had am amazing experience in Costa Rica as a Project Supervisor and I would recommend AMIGOS to anyone who is willing to adventure out of their comfort zone, build meaningful relationships, work on their leadership skills and explore Latin America.