Memorial takes on Amigos abroad

This summer, Memorial students Leah Otillar, Audrey Hildreth, and Katherine Hayes embarked on a trip to Costa Rica, utilizing their Spanish skills from Memorial High School to submerge themselves in a new culture and serve others while abroad on “Amigos.”

Due to their rigorous Spanish curriculum at Memorial, the students were able to effectively communicate, aiding their service and overall experience in Costa Rica. 

“Taking Spanish at Memorial helped so much when it came to communication,” senior Leah Otillar said. “Especially Spanish V with Mrs. Sierra, which involved a lot of talking and learning about different Latin American cultures.”
 
Their extensive speaking abilities not only aided them in directions in service but also in the formation of meaningful relationships. The program allowed for the blurring of a language barrier, skipping to the deep connection building.

“Every morning when I would greet my host dad in the first community we were in, he would respond with “¡Pura Vida!”, a common Costa Rican phrase meaning “pure life” in Spanish, essentially implying that all is well,” junior Katherine Hayes said. 

While the education they came with was extremely valuable, the life skills the girls learned have had the largest impact on their lives.The three experienced full immersion into the culture, integrating themselves among the local community. 

“I gained a new outlook on life through experiencing life in a different culture and learning from so many amazing people,” junior Audrey Hildreth said.

The three were not only in an unfamiliar country, but also living with host families, speaking Spanish as their first language, and adapting to a new way of life.

“[Through “Amigos”]  I gained confidence in my ability to adapt to rapid change, having my eyes opened to new cultures, and strengthening of my problem solving abilities,” senior Leah Otillar said.

Hayes explained that the experience she had was unlike any other kind of activity she had done before. “Amigos” has a unique aspect of full immersion into Spanish and the Costa Rican community. In the program, participants are taken in and embraced by their host families during their time abroad.

“[My] incredible host family took me in like one of their own children, bonding by playing games, cooking, reading, praying, eating, and talking together,” Hayes said. “I also got to form such genuine bonds with the seventeen other volunteers in my group from different US states with various upbringings.”

Through their service and dedication to open-mindedness, the three will carry the skills they gathered during “Amigos” for the rest of their lives. Motivated by Otillar’s uplifting mantra, “continue loving the world and everyone in it,” they spent their time carefully learning all there was to know about their surroundings in Costa Rica, and took their enlightened thinking back to Texas.