Engineering Abroad 2020 – 2022
a team of engineering students, faculty, and i were hosted by the community of Providencia de Dota, Costa Rica, to volunteer in organic coffee farms by Green Communities. we gained hands-on experience building and updating infrastructure with an emphasis on sustainability.
originally planned to travel in 2021, we spent two years fundraising for the trip, researching the area’s history and culture, and preparing for the projects we would work on once we got there. during these times online, i served as the club’s president and club representative for council meetings with reps from other clubs of the college. gradually, i became more comfortable speaking to large groups of strangers.
two and a half years later, we’d been granted the green light to travel in summer 2022.
the team split into groups, separated by everyone’s engineering focus. civil students worked on surveying terraces and laying concrete for a new site that future volunteers would work on. mechanical students renovated the main space of La BioFabrica, the main hub where the team kept fertilizer, tools, and filtration tanks.
the team i was on updated the farm’s off-grid solar system, installing two new panels supplying 500W of power, totaling 1kW. this was used to power the farm’s coffee cherry processor that previously ran on a generator, and could now run emissions-free.
i learned technical skills including stripping/crimping wires, wiring an outlet, installing junction boxes, and more.
i also learned social skills of working with a team an communicating effectively, even in spanish when talking with the volunteer dreamers, a group of local student kids who worked alongside us as well as taught us new things. one of them was a 10-year old boy who taught me how to use a handsaw and schooled me by getting the job done significantly cleaner and in a fraction of the time. but i learned to be patient and realize it doesn’t matter the teacher, anyone has something they’re able to teach.
i’m grateful for the people at my community college who were able to provide this opportunity, and i did not expect the experience to be as rewarding as it truly was.
below is a presentation my roommate, Daniel and I prepared to present our experience to the college and future teams.
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