Imagine going to a school where all of your classmates speak different languages, represent different countries and come from extremely diverse backgrounds. For students attending any of the twelve United World Colleges (UWC) of the world, this academic environment is not something of the imagination, but rather a daily reality. Costa Rica Outward Bound School is proud to join forces with UWC in Costa Rica to provide students with an educational experience that will last a lifetime.

Like Outward Bound, UWC was a project of the internationally renowned educator Kurt Hahn, who inspired notable development in the experiential education arena. His mission for UWC to promote interaction and understanding among the world’s youth was inspired by the peaceful interaction and collaboration he saw among former enemies working together via the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after the Cold War.

Sixty Costa Rican high school students spent the last weekend of March at the Outward Bound base about 30 minutes outside of the country’s capital. The activity was designed to develop leadership among the students and in the end serve as part of the selection process for the handful of Costa Rican students who will be given the opportunity to begin a two-year study abroad program in Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Norway, Singapore, Swaziland, the United States, Venezuela, the United Kingdom or Bosnia and Herzegovina later this year. The students participated in a nature hike, a tree climb, various team-building initiatives, and a community service project with a local non-profit organization, the SOS Children’s Village. The program ended on Sunday afternoon with a talent show the scholarship applicants presented to their peers.

Fifteen of these students will be chosen to finish their secondary studies with UWC and will then be awarded an International Baccalaureate diploma. Many UWC alumni continue on to attend Ivy League universities and serve as leaders both in their country of residency, as well as on a global scale.

According to the UWC website, their vision is to promote values such as “international and cultural integrity, mutual responsibility and respect, compassion and service, respect for the environment, a sense of idealism, personal challenge, and action and personal example.” It’s through the teaching of these lessons that UWC develops the world citizens and leaders that will change the world through their fight for peace, justice and understanding.

It is the work of organizations such as UWC and Costa Rica Outward Bound that answers former Prime Minister of Canada and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Lester B. Pearson’s question: “How can there be peace without people understanding each other; and how can this be if they don’t know each other?”

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