Once Alum, Always Alum
by Elizabeth Mayer

What do you remember from being a CRROBS student?

Hair that was clay-like and full of dreads?
Shoes you lost to the river?
Salsa Lizano deadly gas?
The four random necklaces you wore?
Callused and stained hands?
The dull machetes?
The tubs of Gold Bond you polished off?
Clothes you lost to rips, blood stains or stench?

Not only are most of the experiences funny and story-worthy, but they’re impacting as well. Almost all Outward Bound students leave Costa Rica feeling empowered after developing new perspectives on life, the environment, themselves, and their abilities. On the exit interview, students discuss the multitude of ideas how they plan to change their lives after they arrive home again.

How long does that empowerment last? It is not surprising for students to change careers, majors, eating habits, or environmental practices. For the majority of the students, it simply brings fond and happy memories. It’s important to remember those experiences in our lives when we were most positively impacted – nobody can recreate those life-changing and influential experiences for us.

These are the ideas behind Costa Rica Outward Bound’s development of an Alumni Program. In its initial stages, this program simply consists of a bimonthly (twice-a-month) email blast, aptly named Leaf Brief, which will contain short, alumni-requested information such as instructor and student updates, contests, discounts, new courses, and more. These quick updates will be based on the information most pertinent to our alumni. (This has no relation to our Canopy Chronicle which is emailed six times per year, contains no Leaf Brief information and will remain a resource for more thorough, informational content.)

Eventually, this program will expand into a web page in Costa Rica Outward Bound’s new web site as well as a forum for alumni to communicate with each other and prospective students. For now, however, we welcome all alumni to remain active on our Facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/crrobs) where you can comment on past photos or videos, post your own, answer questions, start conversations, and more. Continue to let us know how you are doing and/or what you want to know.

To subscribe to Leaf Brief, email alumni@crrobs.org with the subject “SUBSCRIBE”.

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