This past summer several Beaver students traveled to Costa Rica to live and work on an organic farm. Danny DeLeon ’11 took part in that trip and shared his experiences with parents at the annual Parents’ Association Fall Dinner. Photos from the trip can be seen at right or in a Flickr gallery.

This summer, I took a community service trip to Costa Rica through the Hiatt Center. Our job was to live on an organic farm for nine days. During this time, we did so many things, including moving piles of manure at the manure post, taking workshops in Spanish about trans-genetic seeds and cross pollination problems, and just hanging out as a group. Doing the work, I gained a new perspective on life. It made me see how hard it actually is to work and produce the food that I bring to my mouth every day. In many cases, I take the food I eat for granted. I tend not to think about how hard it is to produce this food, and I don’t think of the people who don’t have the privilege of being able to eat something even if it isn’t in season.