Outward Bound has been hosting adventure-based wilderness courses for 50 years and welcomes students from all over the world. The program has grown to incorporate Outward Bound schools in 30 different countries and participants include adolescents, adults, professionals, scouts and families. It’s hard to believe that for several years after its inception, Outward Bound courses were closed to female participants. That’s why we salute Jean Sanford Replinger who pioneered the OB experience for women. Replinger says that she realized that “in our lifetime, as women, we would have a lot of emotional challenges and the Outward Bound experience would instill confidence.”

This inspiring article proves that, with tenacity and enthusiasm, anyone is capable of accomplishing their goals. Just ask Sue Austin who recently began scuba diving despite having a disability which necessitates the use of a wheelchair. She performed the dive with the help a new technology called Pegasus Thruster, which aids in a diver’s mobility while underwater. Austin talks of her disability saying, “There is a dichotomy in understanding: Many people understand this word to mean broken, deficient or limited in some way. But for those ‘in the know’ ‘disability’ celebrates the strengths and power that is built up in and through ‘difference’”. Agreed!

Just as mangroves can be found in many regions of the world with a lot of coastline, these trees are also abundant in Costa Rica. Mangroves are important for a number of reasons, not the least of which being their ability to sustain an entire ecosystem. That’s right! By virtue of being neither completely on land nor entirely submerged in the ocean, mangroves have become home to marine life and provide food to animals living on land. It’s recently come to our attention that mangroves are being sacrificed in favor of the creation of shrimp farms. Shrimp farms, which are man-made  are constructed in the same areas mangroves would typically occupy.