PreTrip Post

Hello Everyone! 

In two days sixteen Visitation girls will travel to Costa Rica to study leaf cutter ants in the rainforest.  This includes a variety of rising sophomores, juniors, seniors and 2014 graduates. We applied for this opportunity towards the end of last school year. Since then, we have been preparing for our trip, and are all so excited to leave in a few days! In preparation, we have learned about Costa Rican culture and climate, leaf cutter ants and their colonies, and why we should take interest in studying them. We also had the opportunity to Skype with scientist Dr. Currie. He spoke to us about the importance of an innovative mind and what it is like to be a research scientist. We also had the opportunity during this time to ask him any questions we had. In Costa Rica we have the rare opportunity to work beside professional research scientists.  This opportunity allows us as high school students to study science in a professional and innovative environment. We will be studying and testing hypotheses on Leaf Cutter Ants.  In order to do this, we will be working in groups of four and creating our own experiment. We will be staying in a remote part of the rainforest at a resort called Finca La Anita in Colonia Libertad, Costa Rica. Aside from the science aspect of our trip, we also will have the opportunity to experience other aspects of Costa Rican life. We will be going on nature hikes, zip lining, and preforming a service project. Stay tuned as we will be updating this blog nightly throughout our trip!

Lauren Debertin and Julia Sullivan