Teacher as Student

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Tim 1 Comment

It’s not easy to bond so tightly with people so quickly then leave. My reward has been that even though I will likely never see most of them again, I count them as friends. I have been in contact with a few project alumni. A few have returned as college interns, working on their own projects, and of them (Rachel and Alex) I count as friends I hope to remain in contact with throughout their lives and careers. The project has allowed me to see, experience, and photograph an amazing number of Costa Rican reptile and amphibian species, as well as countless other living things. But that is not important. The teaching and learning is what matters. And as much as I’d like to boil this down to simply teaching, in reality it is a deeply personal experience. Something that I’d rather hold dear to myself. So as I open up about this experience I do so in order to once again try to inspire you, the readers, to get outside. Learn. Teach. And develop your own relationships with the people that matter so much in conservation.

 

A quick break as team members head back off the mountain and back to civilization. Photo by Rachel Clarkin-Breslin.

This is the last view of rainforest before entering open pasture land. The next day the students will be returning to their lives in cold snowy Connecticut. Hopefully, for not the last time in tropical forests.

 

The 2011 Rainforest Project team. Photo taken by Alex Shepack.

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