Monday, March 16, 2015

Wrap-up in Mastatal, transitions


Last morning in Mastatal

We wrapped up our month-long stay in Costa Rica in a frenzy: several days of last-minute data collection, statistical analyses (lots of Bonferroni corrections to post-hoc pairwise comparisons!), final presentations, and teary goodbyes! All of the students presented the results of their research projects in the outdoor classroom at Rancho Mastatal on Friday afternoon - followed by a celebratory pizza party at Siempre Verde and some frantic packing Friday night. Then we retreated to the urban bustle of Alajuela Saturday morning before departing Sunday to various destinations in the U.S. and Latin America. This week we reconvened for class sessions to talk more about statistics and data analysis, and create research posters, which were presented by the students at the UW Tacoma Student Showcase on Friday the 13th. As the euphoria of surviving a month in the field fades and everyone transitions back to "real-life", several students are planning to return to Mastatal later this year to pursue a newly created sustainable/organic farming internship at Siempre Verde; others still are focusing on ways to incorporate sustainability techniques they learned in Mastatal to their lives back home in the Pacific Northwest.
Presentations in Mastatal

Farewell to the rainforest

Student Showcase back at UW Tacoma!