Student Council met during lunch to discuss both the inspiration for the annual sophomore trip to Costa Rica and plans for possible future class trips.

President Ann Marie Krejcarek helped to create a Costa Rica trip for high schoolers while working at St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Florida, as an opportunity for students to bond while in another country.

“The idea when we established this Costa Rica trip at St. Andrew’s School was to take the whole class of 10th graders to spend a week together to get to know each other, to know another country…and to see something different than Florida,” Julian Domenech, Upper School Head at St. Andrew’s, said. “The main [point of the trip] was to become one.”

The Costa Rica trip offers an opportunity for Convent and Stuart Hall students to interact with each other outside of school through cultural activities and service opportunities.

“My favorite thing about Costa Rica was seeing all social groups mix,” junior Starr Hooper said. “It just becomes a great experience; you talk to a lot different people within your grade.”

Sophomores, including Caroline Phillipps, look forward to going to Costa Rica in January.

“I’m looking forward being able to spend more quality time with my class, getting to know everyone, and being immersed in such a different culture, which is really exciting,” Phillipps said. “I’m very excited for the activities we’ll be doing, which is taking some chances, doing some different things, eating some different foods, and meeting some different people.”

Domenech, along with 20 teachers from Convent and Stuart Hall, will head to Cuba in February in hope of starting a new class trip.

“[On the trip] students would be open to [do] a lot of service, visit schools, and connect with the Cuban people,” said Domenech. “That would be a dream.”