Costa Rica is a popular vacation destination, known for its stunning natural beauty and astonishing variety of wildlife. However, the country’s varied landscape — including lush rainforests, active volcanoes, and roaring waterfalls — also makes it an ideal place to build group development skills while participating in exciting, challenging activities like whitewater rafting, zip lining, and waterfall rappelling.
Shortly after the close of the semester in May 2023 — and following a week of online instruction — 25 UW–Madison students embarked on the UW Team Building in Costa Rica study abroad program, led by Associate Professor of Kinesiology Luis Columna and Cindy Kuhrasch, a distinguished teaching faculty member and director of UW–Madison’s Physical Education Teacher Education program.
Over two weeks, the students explored the country by visiting ancient ruins, hiking the Irazú Volcano, whitewater rafting, exploring the rainforest tree-tops on a canopy tour, waterfall rappelling, visiting the city of San José, and surfing at Manuel Antonio National Park. By engaging in these challenging activities as a group they honed their team-building skills. And through supplementary readings, journaling, discussions, and group projects, they reflected on their experiences and made connections to apply these skills in their personal or professional lives.
Students who completed the course earned three credits in Kinesiology 325: Group Development and Behavior Management, which Kuhrasch also teaches on campus. Teaching the course in Costa Rica, Columna says, reinforces the course outcomes.
“The ultimate outcome is learning how to be part of a team, and learning more about yourself and how to advocate for yourself,” says Columna. “The adventure activities — whitewater rafting, zip lining, all of that — these fit very well into the outcomes of the course. What they did is magnify your having to trust somebody. They magnify knowing yourself and being able to voice your needs and your worries.”
The course activities also helped students to bond and forge new friendships. “You’re forced to connect with people and really get out of your comfort zone and expand your boundaries,” said Paige Peloquin, a UW–Madison senior and physical education major. “I think the most rewarding thing about my experience in Costa Rica was definitely the connections that were made.”
“We took 25 strangers, and we brought back 25 students who became a family,” said Columna.