Duke of Edinburgh trip to Costa Rica a big success

For two weeks during the month of August, over a dozen students from various secondary schools in the city took part in the Duke of Edinburgh mission trip in Costa Rica. Whilst in the town of Sarchi, the students participated in the rebuilding of a day-care centre, an elementary school and a rehab centre.

“At the elementary school we painted, gave away a laptop and tons of school supplies; they were really happy and it was really cool to see that,” Tim Silver, a grade 12 student at St. Joseph’s Scollard Hall said.

While at the day-care centre, Silver said the students helped out by doing some yard work which consisted of pulling down old banana trees, among other things, which came with a few surprises.

“We were covered in ants and all these things; it was a lot of fun though,” Silver admitted.

Over at the rehab centre, the group did some more painting, installed a new roof along with a new – desperately needed – stove.

“Their stove before was basically a table with cement poured on top of it, with a campfire over top of it,” Silver explained.

This was the second year that such a trip existed for students in North Bay, and a third trip to Sarchi is planned for next summer.