The Boys’ Town, a socio-educational project of the Augustinian Recollects in Costa Rica, begins a new school year with 130 collaborators who will help half a thousand students grow as people, in values, in knowledge and in happiness.
On January 20, activities began again at the Boys’ Town, a socio-educational project of the Augustinian Recollects near Cartago (Costa Rica), with the reception of new students, those who begin this adventure of learning and living away from home for the first time.
During the arrival day, families usually accompany the new students, visit and get to know the facilities, complete the registration process and receive the pertinent instructions on the relationship with their children, who become part of the educational community of the Boys’ Town.
They also meet the teaching teams and have their first contact with the human trainers who coordinate the life in each of the houses where they will reside during their first year of stay, in a semi-family regime.
On this day, everyone witnesses the difficult farewells to the family; for many of these students, it is the first time that they will actually be away from home and, depending on the case, at a relatively great distance from their families and friends for the first time.
The next day, January 21, the official welcome ceremony took place for these students who, during the following week, are the only inhabitants of the Boys’ Town. These are days that are used to get to know the facilities well, have the first contact with their new classmates and assume the rules of coexistence of the City.
The schedule, more relaxed than the one they will have during the actual school year, allows them to strengthen these ties, make new friends and begin to identify with this new life project that they assume when entering the Boys’ Town, through inductions and dialogues where they are explained rules of coexistence and protocols of action in various cases.
On January 27, the arrival of the students who have already completed some stage in the Boys’ Town took place, returning to the new course after the holidays. It is then that the educational complex completes its capacity and shows all its potential, with meetings with the companions, the last family visits and the update of how their classmates and friends have spent the change of year and the holidays.
On January 28, the special mass for the beginning of the course took place in the Temple of Our Lady of Consolation and, later, in the gymnasium, the official opening ceremony of the course. During the Eucharist, the entire educational community (students, collaborators, teachers, Recollect religious) placed the new school year in God’s hands so that it may have the greatest benefits for all.
During the formal ceremony to start the school year, there was time for institutional speeches, joyful dynamics with hope as the central theme, cultural events and presentation of each of the areas of work: human formation, professional and technical formation, formal school formation, coexistence and sports, direction and management…
During the institutional speeches, the entire educational community was encouraged to believe in what they learn, to teach what they believe, and to practice what they learn and teach each other and among all.
There was a moment of special intensity with the farewell and recognition of the work of the Augustinian Recollect Eddy Angulo, for many years a member of the community of the Boys’ Town, of which he is also a former student. He was given a plaque and was given an emotional thank you for so many years of dedication.
Since this month, half a thousand students accompanied by around 130 collaborators are already living intense days of human growth, technical learning, reinforcement of values and dreams, many dreams, to turn their projects into happy lives and builders of a better society.
