Country Day School Guanacaste is a unique place for unique people. While you will be challenged by a rigorous and challenging college preparatory education, you will also find yourself continually stunned by the raw natural beauty of the environment and wildlife around you.
Our school's academic program and extracurricular offerings are similar to quality college preparatory boarding schools in the United States and around the world. You must only imagine it's been transplanted into the middle of a dry tropical forest, just ½ a mile from the nearest Pacific beach, and a world away from "civilization".
Our teachers are native English speakers, fully credentialed and well experienced to teach in the U.S. and around the world. They have developed a passion for teaching and living overseas, and are excited to be able to live here and practice what they love. Our curriculum and graduation requirements are transferable to any U.S. school or college because we are a fully U.S. accredited school.
However, while you are here, whether for a year or until you graduate, you will have an experience like none other.
That is because our boarding program balances a thorough college preparatory education with eye opening opportunities to explore Costa Rica.
While only 19,730 square miles, or about the size of West Virginia, Costa Rica has been likened to Hawaii for it's incredible diversity and beauty of natural environments, habitats, and climates. Within a few hours of the school, you will find beautiful Pacific coast beaches (with hardly a soul on them), lush tropical rainforests, active volcanoes, raging rapids, dry tropical forests, and an abundance of wildlife seen in few places on Earth. Despite being so small, Costa Rica has more species of birds than all North America. You will find (and sometimes be awakened by) Howler monkeys on campus, or walk by 2-ft long iguanas on your way to class. You will also witness the entire landscape change between our two distinct seasons: a warm rainy season with lush green forests, cloudy skies and the most spectacular sunsets and a very dry and warm season with African savannah like landscapes drenched by blue, sunny skies.
Throughout the year, weekend trips and activities are planned to allow you to experience Costa Rica in its entire splendor. These trips and activities are part of full-time boarding tuition and do not entail additional expenses. Trips range from volcano trekking, scuba diving (certification is included in tuition) or snorkeling, overnight sailing trips to nearby islands, camping at various national parks, witnessing Olive Ridley turtles nesting at Playa Grande, to spending a weekend at a far-away beach enjoying the surf, sand, and weather.
Typically, every other weekend is reserved for over-night trips throughout Costa Rica. The intermediate weekends are "local" weekends, with trips and activities planned in or close to the school, allowing you "breathing" room and opportunities to pursue more personal interests and studies between the more intense overnight excursions.
Participation on weekend trips and activities on or off campus is mandatory for freshmen and sophomores and optional for juniors and seniors. Juniors and seniors may elect to spend some weekends off campus (on "home-stays" with day-student families) if they have a participating host family, parental permission to do so, and have maintained satisfactory academic and behavioral requirements.
If you have a desire for a truly unique college preparatory boarding program experience, love nature, and have an adventuresome spirit, we hope you will join our exciting community! |
