Student Led Trip to Costa Rica Saves Thousands

From falling coconuts and swinging monkeys to birds which sound like “a truck's horn” this year’s ‘Change The World Kids’ trip to Costa Rica had its fair share of excitement.

The nearly two-week long trip took place this summer in Monteverde Costa Rica, where the student-led non profit organization helped plant trees in order to establish habitat for an endangered species of tropical bird known as the Bell Bird. Brighton Martsolf-Tan, a senior at Woodstock Union High School, was amongst those hard working students who participated in the restorative effort of the Monteverde Nis tree.

According to Brighton, the group's efforts were essentially necessary in order to promote the general wildlife in the area “Moteverde Nis is the only tree we heavily planted but it is severely endangered and it's what the bellbirds require.” The group's efforts were incredibly thorough, reportedly planting around 2100 trees which Brighton said was: “a lot of work for 10 people”

The labor itself was strenuous and took a lot of careful time, planning and energy. “The work was very hard , it was a lot of moving trees, planting, long hours of being in the sun, but at the end of each session it was rewarding to see all the trees we planted and overall it was a very fulfilling experience,” Brighton says.

Besides the thoroughly active trip, Brighton has participated in quite a few jobs with Change The World Kids. In addition to their tree saving efforts, the Organization has a wide variety of jobs which they do in order to benefit the community in a range of ways. Brighton says the group's jobs can include any of the following : “ jobs , like wood stacking, yard work yeah just small things we can do : dump soda from the town hall, working in the garden maintained by Artistree. We make donated food for the food shelf and other soup projects.”

Brighton highly recommends the trip to any one willing to partake, the experience being truly beautiful and full of adventure, going as far as saying: “ this is what life is like, being in the moment.”