CHA students learn about Costa Rica via alumnus
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI
A group of 14 energetic six- and seven-year-old boys at the Chestnut
Hill Academy are experiencing a tropical, cultural world that many young
children only learn about on television and picture books. Joanna Holland
and assistant teacher Emily Wolf’s pre-first grade class at the
academy have been communicating with Peter Carver, a Peace Corps volunteer,
since the beginning of their school year this September.
Carver, Holland’s son, is serving as a volunteer in Costa Rica,
or more specifically the Isla Venado, an island right off the Costa Rican
mainland in the Gulf of Nicoya. Carver and the boys have been communicating
through letters and email, and exchanging photos. On Wednesday, March
1, the boys at the Chestnut Hill Academy received the opportunity to speak
with the man behind the letters with a half-hour conference call.
“I’ve never talked to Peter in my whole life,” said
six-year-old Luke Margargee.
The boys first greeted Carver in Spanish – either “Hola Pedro”
or “Pura Vido, Pedro.” Pura Vido is a Costa Rican greeting,
meaning “pure life,” and Pedro is Peter’s name in Spanish.
The boys have been studying Spanish with CHA juniors each week.
Then each student had the chance to ask Carver at least one question
about Costa Rica’s culture, food, landscape and people. “How
close do you live to the beach,” “Are the beaches like the
ones at the Jersey shore,” “What are the houses like,”
“Do you dance in Costa Rica,” were some of the boys’
questions.
Carver gave very detailed answers to each of the boys’ questions,
and even cited photos he had sent previously, which were hanging on the
wall with a map that showed Carver’s line of travel from the island
to the capital of Costa Rica, San José, where he had to make the
conference call.
Carver is a 1998 graduate of the Chestnut Hill Academy, and attended
pre-first grade there himself. He graduated from the Elliott School of
International Relations at George Washington University and worked in
Korea and around the world, trying to find a place to pursue his career
in international relief work. He was directed to the Peace Corps program
and left in January 2005 for his training in Costa Rica
Holland jumped at the chance to provide a connection between her classroom
and her son’s work when she learned that the Peace Corps encourages
its volunteers to create a link with an American classroom.
“For young children, it’s hard to relate to other places
in the world without that solid connection,” said Holland. “Peter
went through their school, and was in the pre-first class … they
can identify with him.”
The conference call was not part of the original correspondence, but
the students were awarded this opportunity as part of a contest hosted
by the Peace Corps in honor of the 45th anniversary of its founding by
President John F. Kennedy. The contest connected 30 of the participating
classrooms to their volunteer via a conference phone call and Chestnut
Hill Academy was one of the 30 chosen.
Holland said program operators who were connecting the call were surprised
to have such young children involved with the program, saying usually
the students are much older. “It’s a class that’s very
curious and can take in intellectual material beyond their ages,”
said Holland. “I knew they’d be able to absorb the information.”
The children are hoping to connect one-on-one with the students on Isla
Venado through pen palling soon. Student Teddy Saunders said the first
thing he wants to ask his pen pal would be what their soccer ball looks
like.
On Isla Venado, Carver is helping to establish improvements to the island’s
school and lifestyle that are sustainable when his term is complete. He
helped build a retaining wall to prevent flooding and erosion around their
school and is working on programs to empower women. Another goal of his
is to help the community raise funds to build a dock for their boats.
The island’s commerce is based on fishing, and right now they just
drag their boats onto the beach.
|
