This spring, we’re excited to welcome a new cohort to the Quetzal Education Research Center in the San Gerardo Valley of Costa Rica—a living laboratory where students learn through hands-on research, shared community life, and faith-grounded environmental stewardship. Eight students and one intern from Southern Nazarene University and Point Loma Nazarene University have spent their first weeks traveling, learning, and settling into the rhythms of life in Costa Rica as they begin their semester experience.

These early weeks are intentionally designed to help students orient to both place and culture. Through guided tours, scavenger hunts, and community-based activities, students practice Spanish, learn how to navigate public services, and deepen their understanding of Costa Rica’s environmental and cultural history—preparing them to live well and learn well within the local community. As the semester continues, visiting faculty enrich the program across disciplines such as botany, herpetology, ornithology, mammalogy, history, and tropical medicine, reflecting QERC’s long-standing commitment to rigorous, place-based education. Courses in biblical theology also invite students to reflect on global stewardship and care for creation, integrating learning, ethics, and faith as they study within one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.

A defining strength of QERC is its people and the continuity of relationships formed here. This semester marks a meaningful “full-circle” moment as alumni return in professional roles—our Program Coordinator, Marly Askren (Class of 2021), and our intern, Zack Wood (Class of 2024), embody the enduring impact of the program and the community it builds. Those connections—between students, alumni, faculty, and staff—are central to what makes the semester both challenging and transformative.

QERC’s work is also inseparable from its long-standing relationship with the San Gerardo community and the Chacón family. This partnership, further strengthened by Raúl Chacón serving as Facilities Manager, reflects decades of trust, collaboration, and shared commitment to conservation. In that same spirit, students contribute through applied research projects—such as monitoring water quality in the Río Savegre and studying forest productivity in the surrounding cloud forest—connecting scientific inquiry with practical stewardship.

Later in the semester, students will embark on Costa Rica’s biomes tour, experiencing the country’s ecological diversity firsthand—from high-elevation páramo to dry forest to lowland rainforest. As they encounter rapid shifts in climate, flora, and fauna, they’ll deepen their understanding of how ecosystems function as interconnected systems—and what responsible stewardship can look like in a changing world.

Please join us in praying for our students, faculty, and local partners as they continue to learn, teach, and build community in San Gerardo and throughout Costa Rica during this life-shaping semester.