Early in April, when admitted students were revisiting Proctor and signing on, one parent remarked, "You have to get to know my daughter's current school, because you share so much." This grabbed some attention, because the school in question is the Country Day School in Costa Rica's spectacular northwestern province of Guanacaste. Our 25-year relationship with The American School in Tangier, Morocco is friendly, but frozen by international concerns, so the notion of offering an alternative in a relatively stable Central American country deserves exploration. So--with no agenda but to learn--Academic Dean Bert Carvalho and I visited the village of Brasilito this week.

Here, under a torrid sun approaching the solstice, we found a prosperous, growing little school that has settled into a complex of brightly painted stucco buildings surrounding an expansive, (currently) parched courtyard. The adults we met are dedicated to experiential education, and--in most cases--have extensive experience at international schools. Simon, below right, was educated at British boarding schools in Kenya, and today runs residential life, buildings & grounds, and leads excursions like this scuba certification program:

CDS is fully accredited, and the curriculum is wholly college preparatory. With a few possible exceptions, major academic courses appear to dovetail with our own, so that a student studying geometry, biology, etc., could proceed without significant disruption.

The campus is new, so students are participating in arts projects to beautify a fountain with mosaics.... they're germinating seeds from indigenous trees--tamarindos, palms and the national icon, the guanacaste--to be planted across campus.

By the swimming pool, kids check their activities for the afternoon.