Whether you’re hiking through the remote rainforest, scuba diving coral reefs, or learning to surf in warm water breaks, our Outward Bound Costa Rica Summer Expeditions are packed with adrenaline-pumping fun.
But fun aside, there are numerous educational and cognitive benefits of participating in an international education summer program abroad. Let’s take a look at six benefits you can expect to take away after doing a course overseas this summer.
Six Benefits of Participating in an International Summer Program
1. Boost creative thinking
Spending time with local families in Costa Rica and Panama this summer will boost your creative thinking. Studies show that inter-cultural communications have an effect on the creative centers of the brain leading to levels of increased creativity.
“Cultural experiences… have wide-reaching benefits on student’s creativity, including the facilitation of complex cognitive processes that promote creative thinking,” write researchers in Applied Cognitive Psychology.
2. Develop social and leadership skills
On all Outward Bound Costa Rica Summer Expeditions, our professional field staff and instructors use a situational leadership model to guide students and help them develop their own adaptable leadership style. The model is based roughly on the “Leadership Wheel” written by Clinton Sidle, director of the prestigious Park Leadership Fellow Program at Cornell University.
Using this framework as a basis, all students will practice and improve their individual leadership style by taking on various leadership roles during the course. Communication skills and team work are also enhanced by taking on such leadership roles.
3. Build self confidence
On all Outward Bound Costa Rica courses, participants are pushed out of their comfort zone and exposed to a wealth of new activities, environments and experiences. Such experiences help teens develop a positive self-image and contribute to youth development.
According to the American Camp Association, stepping outside the comfort zone in an organized experience has a strong influence on “the self-constructs: self-esteem, self-confidence, and other aspects of self.”
4. Broaden world knowledge
Make tortillas side by side a remote family’s matriarch. Lend your hand in sea turtle conservation projects with volunteers in Panama. Learn to surf with a Costa Rican who has grown up surfing these same warm water breaks. There’s no better way to broaden your world knowledge than by authentic cultural exchanges while travelling. On an Outward Bound Costa Rica Summer Expedition, such opportunities are rampant.
According to research published in the Frontiers Journal, “students who participate in an immersion experience… tend to report greater understanding of issues specific to the country they visited, and tend to form relationships with individuals in the host country that they expect will be long-lasting.”
5. Stand out on College applications
According to a theory written about on Petersons, one of the leading providers of education content, “there’s a correlation between the amount of cultural exposure that children receive and their chances of getting into college.” Experience abroad, such as those found on summer programs, can play an important role in boosting a student’s college application.
The knowledge high school students gain on a summer program abroad will help their college applications shine, whether by boosting their resume or giving them cross-cultural and personal growth experience to share while writing those infamous college application essays.
6. Create life-lasting memories
“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen,” said Benjamin Disraeli, former British Prime Minister.
Exploring another region of the world, participating in new and challenging activities and interacting with different people from your everyday life are all powerful experiences that will lead to life-lasting memories. Many of our participants tell us that their experience with Outward Bound Costa Rica was once in a lifetime and something they will never forget.
So there you have it – the benefits of participating in a summer program abroad go so much further than fun. Join us on an Outward Bound Costa Rica Summer Expedition and be prepared to boost your creativity, develop social and leadership skills, build self confidence, broaden world knowledge, stand out in college applications and create life-long memories.
Enroll today or inquire for more information.