Attendees discussed their experience on the Costa Rica trip for Fundamentals of Ecology Travel Study on Thursday.

Associate professor Benjamin Weibell spoke about putting together the Costa Rica trip.

“I’ve had the idea for 15 years,” Weibell said. “This was the first one.”

“I had to put together a lot of information and get it all set up,” Weibell added.

Weibell talked about what students got from the trip.

“It opens them up to new experiences,” he said. “If I’m teaching them in a classroom they will forget a lot of this stuff.”

Weibell said that students had the opportunity to pilot drones and create a map of the location.

Biology professor Jessamy Rango said that this trip was for a four credit science course.

Second-year engineering student Nicole Newell attended the trip.

“I learned a lot about ecology,” Newell said. “I thought that the cloud forests in Arenal were the most interesting and the most educational.”

Newell said that she highly recommends the course.

Second-year biology student Cody Delo said he found the wildlife interesting.

“The diversity of all the species that they had in Costa Rica, and how plentiful each species was,” Delo said. “We saw at least three sloths every day and things that I thought were kind of rare were common.”

Delo said his experience was amazing.

The Fundamentals of Ecology Travel Study is planning their next trip for January 2021 to Ecuador and the Galapagos.