Jessica Campbell

International Experience Country:
Costa Rica
Cohort Year:
2013
Home Institution:

Arcadia University

Heinz Programming Area:
Education
International Experience Summary:

Jess Campbell traveled to Costa Rica for six weeks and interned at the Cloud Forest School in Monteverde. She had the opportunity to help with the summer program the school offers to international and local children from the ages of three to eighteen. The program assisted the students with sports, field trips, leadership activities, art projects, cultural learning, and environmental education. Jess experienced what it was like working with children from a different culture and practiced Spanish every day in the program and with her host family. Jess was able to travel throughout Costa Rica on the weekends with another intern and they were able to independently plan and travel across the country. They had the opportunity to experience public transportation and hostels while traveling to beaches, waterfalls, volcanoes, and hot springs. Jess experienced real Costa Rican life through her Tican family. Jess tried many different types of food and drinks, some of which she has already incorporated into her diet here in America. Her favorite meal was the “casado” which consisted of rice, beans, beef, and plantains. During her time in Costa Rica, her host mother was able to teach her how to use a sewing machine and how to make tortillas from scratch. Jess was amazed with all the different wildlife and foliage that she got to experience as well as living in the Cloud Forest. Jess considers Costa Rica a second home and hopes to go back one day to visit the loving host family who were instrumental to introducing her to a different culture.

Community Engagement Experience Summary:

CEE Title: Women Obtaining Wellness

Women Obtaining Wellness (W.O.W.) is a group comprised of three members of the 2013 Cohort of the Vira I. Heinz (VIH) Program for Women in Global Leadership from Arcadia University.  W.O.W.  organized a three-hour workshop promoting women’s wellness, specifically focusing on physical, mental, and emotional well-being with an emphasis on college-aged students at Arcadia . Throughout 2013, we attended two women’s empowerment and leadership conferences through the VIH Program and each studied and volunteered abroad for at least 1 month in one of the following countries: Costa Rica, Japan, and Nepal. Through our study and volunteer experiences abroad, we have developed an awareness for relevant women’s issues such as domestic violence, low or lack of self-esteem, and health care; and how these issues affect women globally (in the countries we visited) and locally (in the city we live in) due to their lack of knowledge on these issues. Therefore, we facilitated a workshop promoting women’s wellness to provide an informative experience where women left with a refreshed sense of self by partaking in three interactive workshops/sessions. Women from all ages were able to come out and support each other by learning about women’s health topics and being able to discuss issues that were relevant to all of us.