Near misses at the airport, a boat full of sick snorkelers, and surprising cultural experiences turned into the trip of a lifetime for 10 students over the summer.

Jessica Anderson, the Marine Biology and AP Environmental Science teacher, took students to Costa Rica over the summer; from the coast of San Jose to Domenico.

“It ended up being so much more fun than I anticipated because instead of just… me going there experiencing it if I went with a friend or a family member or whatever; I got to see the excitement of like 10 different people seeing all this,” Anderson said.

The 10 students signed up through emails they received back in October from Anderson. One of these emails was sent to junior Sam Kelly.

The trip was a great experience for her and she enjoyed it a lot.

“[Anderson is] super chill… it was super fun… She is like a [best friend],” Kelly said.

Anderson is a loved staff member, Senior Mae Cathey went to Costa Rica along with the group, and she described Anderson with excitement.

“It was good to get to know at least one faculty member that you can go to on a personal level if you need anything like she’s genuinely like family friends to all of us,” Cathey said

The journey there was not without a bit of drama, however.

With the delay in Charleston to their connecting flight in Dallas, Texas. The group had to run and carry all their luggage to the gate, just minutes from getting left behind from their long-awaited vacation.

“So we ran from our gate, jumped on the train, because in Dallas it’s not like you get off the gate and your new gates right there… It was like a fifteen-minute walk and I think they delayed our flight… [for] 18 minutes,” Anderson said.

The group had a stressful time with Cathey saying the airport was a lot to deal with. 

“Airport was just a little stressful just having to run to the gate, one person actually went to the wrong gate,” Cathey said

Saved by three minutes and not having to rebook the eleven flights with eleven new hotel rooms, the group had a great time getting to know each other when not all the students even went to the same school. Anderson tried to make the trip as open as possible to everyone and had so much fun with this trip and gave huge props too.

“The company that we went with did such a great job of organizing and [having] everything planned out it wasn’t hard at all… we had a great time the hotels were all amazing and we had a lot of downtime and just exploring all the little towns and shopping and it was really cool and nice,” Anderson said.

Sailing through the waters of Costa Rica, the trip took a turn.

“Waiting to go snorkeling, people [were] puking over the side and we were all just ill,” Anderson remembers.

The group kept going and did not stop for anything. They went back and recovered on a beach with burritos made from the locals. Relaxing on the beach helped them recover after a long and hot day. Throughout the trip, they participated in snorkeling and cultural activities such as dancing and hiking. While this sounds like a dream vacation, it also came with some challenges.

  “They spoke Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish but I was like ‘Wait, what [are] you talking about?’,” Kelly said.

These experiences will be carried through these students’ lives and getting to go on this once-in-a-lifetime trip with one of their teachers, had such a large impact on their time aboard.

As the trip came to an end, the group spent their last days in Costa Rica.

“The last night they did like a cultural dance and they all participated,” Anderson said. ”After a full week of full days, I was really surprised but they did and it was really fun to watch, so we had a great time.”