Boys' Town. Costa Rica. Augustinian Recollects. October 2023.

On the way to the end of the school year, the socio-educational project of the Augustinian Recollects in Costa Rica begins the last trimester with activities to give senior students a farewell and the completion of projects before final evaluations.

Boys Town is a socio-educational project of the Augustinian Recollects in Costa Rica, where the last trimester of the year begins reaping the fruits of all the learning and experiences that began in February with the start of the school year.

Thus, last Wednesday, October 4th, the farewell gathering was held for the twelfth-grade students who will graduate in December.

The motto of the gathering was the Augustinian phrase: “Give what you command and command what you will.” A team of fourteen adults from the Center’s Pastoral Team prepared everything for the forty-eight seniors.

Part of the gathering included many fun moments such as prizes, skill tests, various icebreakers, and other activities to strengthen the values taught and lived in the center.

There was also a spiritual moment to give thanks in Our Lady of Consolation chapel. The event ended with music, dance, and dinner. It was a joyful start of a series of events to give the seniors their final farewell as they start a new stage in life.

The rest of the center’s students did their evaluation of the school year while finalizing their projects. On Saturday, October 7th, the Seventh Annual Technology Fair took place.

This year’s motto and motivation was a phrase from Muhammad Yunus: “Technology is important, but what matters is what we do with it.”

The fair was an opportunity to show the work done in the center to some ninety-seven special guests from all over the country, representing various educational institutions and children’s rights advocates.

The students presented the projects they worked on during the school year, showing that they required innovation, creativity, and research. At the fair, they are already exhibited as a reality.

It is also one of the happiest days for the center’s personnel because it is where they confirm that their many hours of patiently teaching their students were genuinely worthwhile.

The Augustinian Recollect, Friar Rogelio Morgan, opened the Technology Fair with a prayer and recalled the importance of “working as a community and as a team.” The fair summarized what life will be; you need to plan your project, dedicate hard work, and make the right decisions with wisdom to reach your objective. Among the products the students presented were food supplements for athletes, intelligent and automated irrigation systems, tools for everyday work, and healthy local food products.

“We work honestly and as a community. We are thankful to Boys Town, who taught us this,” said one of the students when presenting his prototype at the fair. The admission process for new students for the 2024 academic year ends on October 30th. In the meantime, the next two months will give that final push towards educational success.