A group of students who studied global development in Costa Rica helped launch a new model of faculty-led study trips in January. Their 10-day excursion marked one of the first faculty-led international trips hosted by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in the post-COVID era.
Spearheaded by the Department of Global Development, the new community-engaged learning model features classroom instruction during the semester that prepares the students for a field-based practicum in a foreign country during a school break.
Students taking the 3-credit course “Agriculture, Food Systems and Global Development” traveled throughout Costa Rica to engage with the organizations, labor conditions, trade policies and gender considerations that impact value chains. They focused on visiting farms that produce specialty crops from coffee to cacao, bananas and flowers.