A holistic education for elementary and high school students

Filed Under: EARTH News
Date: June 30th, 2022

Amid the lush beauty of EARTH’s Guácimo Campus, youth from surrounding communities and sons and daughters of faculty and staff who live on campus, attend classes at Escuela y Colegio Científico Interamericano CATIE (CATIE Inter-American Scientific Primary and Secondary School). Encompassing both an elementary school and high school, students benefit from a global curriculum for humanistic, comprehensive, and inclusive teaching and learning. They receive a high-quality, bilingual, holistic education based on scientific research.

One of the classrooms we inaugurated.

To meet these high standards and provide students with an optimal education and an exemplary quality of life, the high school began a quality self-assessment process in 2018 through AdvancED-Cognia. This five-year accreditation brings the institution closer to a best practice model promoted by the United States.

Improvements to the high school’s education include:

  1. Expanding important projects, including offering students a dual diploma: a Costa Rican high school diploma and a North American International Baccalaureate Diploma.
  2. Advanced Placement (AP) undergraduate courses available from U.S. universities, such as Northwest Missouri State University, Snow College, and the University of North Alabama.
  3. Preparation to take U.S. university entrance exams (SATs).
  4. Offering TOEIC and TOEFL certifications at the end of high school.
  5. An agreement with Siemens to provide students Industry 4.0 and STEM certifications.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) program has been an indispensable pillar for improving infrastructure and curriculum in the high school.

Thanks to ASHA’s financial support, two classrooms and new bathrooms featuring an innovative bio-garden gray water management system were inaugurated on March 31. CATIE earned the Ecological Blue Flag for implementing the sustainable technique.

Our president, Arturo Condo, was part of the event.

Since ASHA funding was approved in October 2018, the high school has grown tremendously. It has adopted U.S. practices to build a comprehensive education while establishing strategic relationships with prestigious universities and other programs that seek to improve the quality of education in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

ASHA has been a fundamental support for both EARTH and CATIE in pursuit of attaining a place for students to develop professionally and personally in the best possible way.

Thank you, ASHA!

About USAID

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provides economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 80 countries worldwide. This media article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through USAID. The content is the responsibility of EARTH University and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the U.S. Government.