The local schools are participating in a regular beach clean up program. In addition to helping clean up the local beaches, the students all have a new found appreciation for the word pollution.
Future projects include spelling bees, science fairs and field trips.
Surfing is one of the national sports of Costa Rica and the Student Sports Games are one of the biggest events in the country. Thousands of students gather in a different location each year and have Olympic-style games. These highly competitive games promote discipline, health and many other positive attributes while reinforcing positive qualities to the students in attendance. In 2006, for the first time since the game’s inception in 1972, the program included surfing as a new category for the competitors. Sixty-five students from all over Costa Rica’s elementary and high schools competed in contests divided by sex and age. The addition of surfing to the games was made possible by the joint efforts of the Costa Rican Federation of Surfers (FSCR) and the Ministry of Public Education (MEP). MEP’s advisor of National Physical Education Juan Felix Morera commented, “One of the goals of the ministry is to promote the practice of this discipline of surfing because we know it is very important in our country, especially in the coastal areas.”
Projecto Ninos wants to help facilitate the next logical step: get surfing into the schools! Many kids from the Nosara area drop out of school to surf. Our idea is to integrate academics with surfing early in the elementary schools. Through surf camps, surf contests, surf trips, and corporate sponsorship, we hope to integrate academics, attendance and athletics. If your not in school, not studying, than you won’t be paddling out with the team. Projecto Ninos wants to encourage the children to stay in school, participate on surfing teams, and excel in life.
