Trinity / Assumption Costa Rica Trip 2023

 After a week of hard work collecting data and analysing results, the final presentation day has come. Our students did an amazing job showing us how much they have learned. Parents will get to experience the final presentations on June 8th at 6pm in Convocation Hall at Trinity. Family and friends are invited to see their results... Everyone Is Welcome.

 We started the morning off with breakfast, as usual. We had another full day of science to wrap up our final projects. The morning was very slow. Me and my group were a little confused about our project and were trying to get back on track. We chose to sit outside and work because it was a hot day and the breeze felt wonderful. While we were hard at work, we saw a coati. Then we went to lunch and had a heart of palm casserole with grilled chicken and plantain chips. After lunch, we came back to the lab. This is where things got stressful. It turned out that we had to take more trials in the field to better support our research and there was a lot of running back-in-forth, for me especially. Around 3:40 we got a coffee and chocolate break. It was hot chocolate that didn't help me cool off, but it was so good. After our break, we went back out into the field to finish our trials. We got a lot done and were feeling a lot less stressed than before. After, we went to dinner and had som...

 The Owl Butterfly, also known as the Caligo Butterfly, is a unique animal that mimic two different organisms to help keep it safe from predators. From one direction it looks like a the eyes of an owl and from the other direction, it looks like the mouth, nose and eye of a snake. The biodiversity in Costa Rica is amazing.

 Check out our students conducting gram staining for their projects. This is a valuable tool in microbiology and something that many students never have the opportunity to learn. 

 Trinity is a partner in the newly constructed research campus. The classrooms and outdoor spaces are at eye level with the rainforest canopy. Toucans, butterflies, and even howler monkeys frequently hang out right next to our students. 

 It is amazing to see the students working into the night. This group was setting up their experiments on three different Atta foraging trails. They are way more active at night... thus a great time to gather data.

     Today was a really great but tiring day, as always in Costa Rica. We started off the day bright and early at 7:30 with a ride from Anita from our dorms to the cafeteria. Everyone but Eli and Jason made it in the car because they were too slow. After breakfast, we rode on a tractor to a small town and hiked our way to a waterfall. The waterfall was so beautiful, surrounded by vines and huge rocks. We swam under the waterfall and did a canon-ball contest, which Winston won. After we left the waterfall, we met with a family who offered us juice as well as fresh bananas. On the way back, we saw so many beautiful view of the countryside as well as the rainforest. After lunch, we went back to our dorms and read our books and listened to music to relax. After our break, we spent the rest of the day in the lab continuing our projects. My group's project is going well, and hopefully it can make a solution for local farmers to deter ants from eating their crops. Now, here...