Commitment to education: from agricultural instruction in Central America, to rural teaching experiences in Argentina, to advances in sign language communication in Jamaica; fundamental developments in learning are advancing the next generation of intellectuals who will be the leaders of the future.

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With a wide smile and a twinkle in his eyes, Alexi Antonio Mendoza Flores proudly holds the newest member of his family, a male lamb just weeks old. On the lawn next to him the flock he cares for is doing what they do best: grazing on grass. The sheep are part of Flores' plan for providing a lawn-mowing service that decreases environmental pollution and rids the air of whining engine noises. Guided by a solar-powered electric fence of his own design, he moves the sheep every few days so that they can cut the grass in a new section of the lawn at Costa Rica's EARTH University where Flores is a senior. Creating this service and caring for it's living lawnmowers is all part of Flores' senior project, one last step towards graduating with a degree in agricultural sciences.

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Located in Guacimo, Costa Rica, the Escuela de Agricultura de la Region Tropical Humeda, or simply EARTH University, is a one-of-a-kind academic institution dedicated to teaching sustainable agriculture. With an 8,154-acre campus of 400 students, 40 faculty, a banana plantation, an organic farm, a paper mill, a biological reserve, and a variety of experimental gardens, the university is able to provide a world-class, hands-on education. In return, says long-time University President Dr. Jose Zaglul, the university has only one request: "We don't ask for much. We just want them to change the world."

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Two decades ago a group of visionaries proposed creating a university dedicated to tropical sustainable agriculture located in the middle of the rainforest. They wanted students from rural areas all over Latin America to be able to step right outside the classroom and immediately put into practice what they were learning about organic farming, composting, and reforestation. Funds from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) paid for the planning and building of this new kind of university--where environmental responsibility, community leadership, and ethical business practices would be just as important as academic excellence.

One of the goals of this university was to make higher education available to young people from rural areas throughout the humid tropics. Low-income students who wouldn't ordinarily go to college, let alone leave the country, would have the opportunity for a top-notch education they could use to improve agricultural practices back home.

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Since classes began in 1990, the university has graduated 1,272 students from twenty Latin American countries and from Spain, Uganda, Mozambique and Indonesia. The majority of EARTH graduates--some 77 percent--work in their own private sector business, for a non-governmental organization (NGO), or for their family business.

Because the university provides plenty of hands-on experience, EARTH graduates leave campus well prepared for the real world. Each student spends time working and living with farmers in the communities surrounding the university. On campus, students work on the university's integrated farm to learn sustainable farming techniques including waste management and proper animal care. In their third year of study, students leave campus for an International internship. They spend three to four months working for businesses in the agricultural industry and volunteering in rural communities throughout Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and the United States.

One of the university's goals is to create ethical entrepreneurs who will return to their home country, start sustainable businesses, and create jobs. Every student receives entrepreneurial training both in and outside of the classroom. At the end of their freshman year, EARTH students begin developing their own sustainable agro-business. The students go through the real steps an entrepreneur faces. They develop a business plan, they obtain a loan from the bank, they start the business, and they liquidate the assets. Students have dabbled in pineapple exportation, soap making, and educational tourism.

The opportunity to get his hands dirty is what drew Adolfo Artavia to EARTH University. The son of coffee farmers from Heredia, Costa Rica, Artavia already had a natural interest in agriculture. Although he was considering a degree in agricultural studies, he had heard that many universities fail to give students hands-on experience. Then a friend told him that EARTH University was different. "The first time I came, I fell in love with the place," he says. What started out as a lunch meeting turned into a day-long visit. Now in his fourth year, Artavia has had many opportunities for practical experience. He is especially proud of the work he did for Malawi's Natural Resources College in Africa. During his five-month internship, he created a recycling center, improved mushroom cultivation, and worked in rural communities teaching people how to install and use a biodigester and how to improve composting.

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Sophomore student Ruth Vera Hejia from Northern Peru had never even considered leaving her country before she came to EARTH University. Now she is eagerly planning for her internship in the United States and is dreaming about traveling around the world. With passion in her voice, she talks about her school and how it has changed her. She is proud of the training she receives at the university organic dairy farm and delights in talking about her plans for the future when she will return to her country and improve agricultural processes there.

To find outstanding young people like Artavia and Vera Hejia, EARTH University invests a lot of time, money, and human resources in recruitment. Faculty members travel to remote areas of Latin America and the Caribbean to meet with and interview potential students. Not. only are they evaluating academic potential, they are also looking for young people with leadership skills committed to returning to their country to be "agents of change."

According to professor Johan Perret, the interview is the first connection the teachers have with a student and that is why they invest so much time and effort in them. Each applicant will spend 30-45 minutes in an interview with the professor alone and in a group setting. "If we disconnect the professor from the interview, then we might disconnect the professor from the [student]," Perret explains.

During those interviews EARTH faculty are looking for key personality characteristics of morality, social awareness, adaptability, business sense, and leadership. Senior student Susana Hernandez was teaching environmental education to children at a nature preserve in Queretaro, Mexico, when she heard about EARTH University. Her love for her country, her intelligence, and her dedication to the environment satisfied the EARTH University requirements for a potential student.

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Because many students come from remote areas of the Americas, they may not have received the quality of education they need to compete at the university level. To break down that barrier, the university established the Academic Preparation Program, funded by the Ford Foundation, which takes applicants through a two-month intensive study program at the university before the semester begins in January. The accelerated classes give the students the background they need to pass the entrance exam and succeed in the classroom. For example, if a candidate is lacking in math skills, Perret says, "We can train students in exactly what they need."

In 2007, the recipient of the university's highest student award, the EARTH Award, was a graduate of the Academic Preparation Program. Jose Iztep grew up in rural Guatemala, and because he lost his father at an early age, he had to concentrate more on working than studying. During a visit to Iztep's high school, EARTH University staff identified personal qualities in Iztep that made him an excellent candidate for an EARTH University degree. To catch up with other, better-prepared students, Iztep went through the Academic Preparation Program, passed the admissions exam, and received a full scholarship.

To make sure that language is not a barrier to education, EARTH provides immersion Spanish training for its non-Spanish speaking students. Robert Ilmedimi Lechipan, a second-year student from Northern Kenya, learned Spanish by staying with a Costa Rican family in San Jose before he began his university studies. He said that at first he was shocked by the different world he was in, but then he became accustomed to it. Now he switches effortlessly from Spanish to English in general conversation.

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Making higher education available to promising young people like Jose Iztep and Robert Ilmedimi Lechipan has been a goal of the university from the start. In a region where "we're millionaires in biodiversity, but we have the poorest people," Jose Zaglul explains that the university has pledged to make higher education available to a diverse group of applicants. Although the cost of educating each student is high-around $28,000 per student a year--the university pays half and the other half is paid for by the student or by grants and scholarships from foundations, private donors, corporations and governments.

With the help of the Atlanta-based EARTH University Foundation, the university is able to fund partial scholarships for 30 percent of its students and full scholarships for 50 percent of its students. Out of the 1,851 students who entered the University between 1990 and 2007, 76 percent received full or partial scholarships.

Additional income for scholarships is generated from the university's commercial operations that are staffed by local people. The students' role in these commercial ventures is that of an observer which gives them a wonderful opportunity to learn how the university can run a business with sustainable and ethical principles. In its short history, EARTH University has already made a major impact on one of Costa Rica's most important crops, the banana. According to Gerardo Mirabelli, director of external relations, the original advice in the early days of the university was to get rid of the banana plantation because banana farming is so hard on the environment. "Bananas are such an important industry in so many countries that we cannot ignore that the system is there," he explains. So they did what a university dedicated to sustainable agriculture should do: they found ways to make banana farming sustainable and in the process helped to change the banana industry throughout Costa Rica.

Mirabelli recalls his tours to banana plantations when he was younger. He remembers the relentless flies, the rats darting about, and the blue plastic bags that littered the ground. An integral part of the banana farm, the plastic bags are tied around banana bunches to protect the fruit from insects and sun damage. But in the past, the discarded bags were buried in the dirt, thrown into rivers, or simply left on the ground. EARTH University began the country's first recycling program for the bags and now Mirabelli estimates that 90 percent of Costa Rica's banana plantations are recycling.

Currently the team at EARTH University is working to make their 600-acre banana plantation fully organic, a goal no other banana plantation in Costa Rica has achieved so far. They are eliminating the practice of drenching the blue plastic bags in poisonous insecticides and are embracing an organic insect repellent made of hot pepper and garlic as an equally effective alternative. "EARTH has been for a long time a leader in developing new technologies that reduce the environmental impact of banana production," says Matt Rogers of Whole Foods. The farm has also developed natural fertilizers to take place of chemical fertilizers.

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Since 2007, EARTH University has been working with Whole Foods Market, an upscale grocery store chain in the United States, to develop a supply chain to deliver EARTH bananas for sale exclusively by Whole Foods. This is the first product to be part of the Whole Foods Whole Trade guarantee program, and EARTH has to follow strict quality, labor, community, and environmental standards on their banana farm. In 2007 EARTH exported 437,952 boxes of bananas to Whole Foods, contributing to four percent of the university's income.

Another income-generating project for the university is banana paper. Based on research from the University of Costa Rica, EARTH University began to make paper out of one of the biggest sources of banana waste, the pinzote, which is the thick stem that attaches a bunch to the tree. Made up of mostly water with a small percent of glucose and vegetable fiber, the pinzote does not decompose fully and so is left to rot in landfills or local rivers creating a foul-smelling waste pile that is an ideal habitat for flies.

By combining ground up pinzote with post-consumer recycled paper, EARTH University can produce banana paper for notebooks and agendas. With the purchase of an old mill, the university is able to make paper rolls to sell. The goal is to bring the entire process in house so that the university can produce agendas and notebooks on its own under the EARTH University brand.

Innovative techniques are everywhere on the EARTH campus. One place where students spend a lot of time is the university's integrated farm where vegetables, yogurt, and cheese are produced for the university community. The farm is a living laboratory for students and local farmers and a demonstration site of sustainable farming for the university's many visitors. The animals are treated according to an animal welfare code that includes freedom from thirst, hunger, and malnutrition; freedom from discomfort due to environment; freedom from pain, injury, and disease; freedom to express normal behavior for the species; and freedom from fear and distress. The cows listen to soft music during milking, they are able to roam freely in spacious pastures, and they are milked on cement to protect their legs. EARTH philosophy is that what is good for the animal is good for the farm, and a well-treated cow will have a healthy milk supply.

The first thing you notice when you visit the farm is what you don't see--annoying flies--and what you don't smell--cow and pig manure. That is because the farm is dedicated to re-using the by-products that are normally viewed as waste. Instead of relying on firewood or costly propane gas, the farm uses animal waste, which is free and plentiful, to create electricity and fuel cook stoves. The animal manure is collected and converted to methane gas in a biodigester. Waste of all kinds, from the kitchen to the barnyard, is used to create natural fertilizer that balances soil ecology, raises yields, saves money, and eliminates odors.

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EARTH's efforts to reduce waste and save energy have qualified the university for carbon neutral status, making it the first carbon neutral university in Costa Rica. In a three-step process, the university quantified how much carbon it emits, determined how they could store carbon on campus, and implemented projects to offset the university's carbon emissions. By becoming carbon neutral, EARTH is leading the country that much closer to Costa Rica's goal of becoming the first country in the world to be carbon neutral.

The impact of EARTH University in Costa Rica and around the world grows steadily each year. In 2005, the family of Costa Rican Ex-president Daniel Oduber Quirds donated a 3,700-acre farm to EARTH. With this gift, the university was able to add a second campus in the northwestern part of the country in the dry tropical region of Liberia. EARTH University-La Flor will host a sustainable agricultural center, a sustainable technology center, a green conference center, and a center for the transformation of knowledge. "We hope to transform this campus into a business entrepreneur hub where professionals in different fields and benefactors of the tropics provide solutions to real problems," says La Flor campus manager Dr. Carlos Hernandez.

Graduation is a very emotional time for the entire EARTH Community. Beforehand, all students participate in a fair to raise money so that each graduate can afford to bring one family member to Costa Rica for the ceremony. President Zaglul hosts a dinner in his home for all the visiting family members. Proud parents clad in the traditional dress of their village tell him that an entire community is celebrating their child's graduation. The experience of watching young people--who otherwise would have never had the opportunity to study--transform themselves into professionals who can make a difference in the world is amazing, he says. "We have proven that if you motivate, if you encourage, if you put the emphasis on learning rather than teaching, and show that you really care about the student, you can create incredible leaders and citizens." He is confident that they will succeed in their most important challenge ahead: taking care of the Earth the way EARTH has taken care of them.

RELATED ARTICLE: The value of education for rural teachers.

The lack of access to education in rural areas is a serious problem worldwide. In Latin America, two-thirds of poor families live in the countryside in areas with difficult access to schools. A high percentage of students drop out with less than three years of schooling, in many cases to work in the fields or to help raise their siblings when mothers have to leave home to work. But even in difficult circumstances, education can be of great value to those living in rural areas.

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In the summer of 2007 I started participating in a project organized by the University of Tucuman in northern Argentina to expand the knowledge of rural teachers in the province of Tucuman through a project called Maestro 1,2,3. I chose to teach the techniques of oral history, something the rural teachers could teach their students and practice in their communities. One of the important aspects of this method is the respect that must be given to the members of the community who share their experiences and values.

Although some of the teachers live near the rural school where they teach, many others travel long distances to get to their school. In many cases, teachers have to travel on horseback for several hours over mountains and rivers to reach the school. Others choose to live in the rural school where they teach and go home once a month during the school year. Their work and sacrifice was an example for me.

Several of these rural teachers I trained work in more than one school. Because of the distance and cost, few of them have the opportunity to attend faculty development workshops or courses. Gaining access to these development activities is very important to them, however, since the Ministry of Education assigns "value points" that allow the teachers to obtain better pay and secure permanent jobs for activities that enhance their professional skills.

In my workshop, we read some memoirs including one by the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda entitled Confieso que he vivido (I confess that I have lived). We also discussed theory, methodology types, and ethical concerns of oral histories. We looked at samples of what some schools in the United States have done to preserve traditions by involving school children in interviewing community members.

All of the projects we developed during the workshop were tied to needs of the students' communities. All involved intensive interviews carried out by the children. Some of the topics included: investigating the possibility of an after-school program so that children with untapped talents could be tutored by their teachers; designing a small museum of rocks and plants from the area and having children study them; investigating the use of medicinal plants in their community; examining the issue of pollution in mountain rivers used for washing, drinking, and waste disposal; and recording the history of a spring fertility ritual in which a bull and a cow are "married."

As I reflect on this experience, I realize that my work at my college in New York was one of the best trainings I could have had for this project. Our philosophy at the college is to take the students at whatever stage they come, respecting their experiences, and creating activities related to their life histories, interests, and goals. This allowed me to listen to my students and honor their needs.

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I had heard so many conflicting opinions about rural teachers before I became involved in this project that I didn't have high expectations of what was possible to do with them. The teachers and everybody associated with the school where I conducted the courses proved me wrong. These teachers loved their students and had a lot of creativity, though some had stopped expressing it because authorities at the Ministry of Education demanded some goals that were inappropriate for their students. I found that my students bad intellectually inquisitive minds ready for discussion, and I learned that they were grateful that somebody had taken the time to listen to them and work with them in their own communities. I also learned that although material resources are important, willingness to learn is even more important in order to have vibrant, accomplished schools that truly serve their students

--Silvia Chelala

RELATED ARTICLE: Deaf education in Jamaica.

In 1938, Reverend Frederick Gilby, an Anglican clergyman from England, founded the Jamaican Association for the Deaf (JAD). A year later, the newly established Association opened the St. Christopher's School for the Deaf, the first school of its kind in the Caribbean. During the 1960s and 1970s, other schools followed. At present, the Association operates eight schools with an enrollment of around 300 students. Iris Soutar is the current executive director of the Jamaican Association for the Deaf. When she graduated from the University of the West Indies over 32 years ago, she began teaching at a JAD cluster school in Kingston. "It's been a life-long love affair ever since," says Soutar. Under her supervision, the Jamaican Association for the Deaf is in the process of reforming deaf education on the island.

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Until the late 1990s, deaf education teachers in Jamaica held classes without use of sign language. Instead, like most other institutions in the Americas, Jamaican schools instructed students in a collection of techniques known as oralism. Oralist educators believed that if students studied lip reading, mouth movements, and speech techniques, they could fully integrate into speaking society and obtain employment. Programs in oralism largely failed. In Jamaican schools, students focusing on perfecting their spoken language never built the necessary cognitive skills and, as a result, lagged behind hearing students in national literacy and academic achievement exams.

"We as educators have forced a hearing perspective on deaf students for years. If we want our students to achieve, we must develop curriculum for their visual learning style and teach in the language they understand best, Jamaican Sign Language," explains Soutar. In early 2000 the Jamaican Association for the Deaf began to seek out assistance from USAID to implement Jamaican Sign Language in the classroom along with English. With the support of USAID and the Jamaican Ministry of Education, the Jamaican Association for the Deaf procured 27 staff positions for deaf culture facilitators. In 2006, the first truly bilingual teachers began instructing in JAD schools.

Since that time, Jamaican Sign Language has quickly become the language of instruction in deaf classrooms. Historically influenced by American and British Sign Language, Jamaican Sign Language is nevertheless unique. British and American Signers who travel to Jamaica are quick to notice Jamaicans' distinct way of communicating. Whereas British and American Sign Language occurs above the waist, Jamaicans involve their entire bodies. Along with their hands and arms, Jamaicans express themselves using their legs and face. However, a universal Jamaican Sign Language does not yet exist. Teachers find that students from different parts of the country sign differently. Iris Soutar clarifies, "Only by strengthening the role of Jamaican Sign Language In the classroom can we establish a common language."

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In May 2008, the Jamaican Association for the Deaf partnered with the Special Multilateral Fund of Inter-American Council for Integral Development (FEMCIDI) of the Organization of American States and Gallaudet University, the premier university for education for the deaf in the United States, to improve bilingual deaf education in Jamaica. The four-year project "Language and Literacy Development for Deaf Children and Youth" is developing a new bilingual curriculum, training bilingual teachers and mentors, and building parents' awareness of deaf education. During the summer break of 2008, teachers attended workshops to improve their conversational competence in Jamaican Sign Language. Deaf curriculum experts also collaborated with teachers, parents, and deaf activists to host a series of curriculum writing retreats.

Donna Harris is a bilingual teacher participating in the project. Although now profoundly deaf, she began her career in deaf education with normal hearing. It was not until she contracted meningitis several years ago that she permanently lost her hearing. She explains why Increasing the number of bilingual teachers and mentors is crucial for students. "Students need role models to understand the significance of education in their own lives. In a deaf oriented classroom they don't have to speak or act a certain way to be accepted or understood. They can express themselves naturally."

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For deaf students to succeed, they must first be accepted by their families. Many parents are unfamiliar with deaf culture and uncertain of how to educate and communicate with their deaf children. The Jamaican Association for the Deaf is getting parents involved in parenting seminars and sign language courses. Iris Soutar expects that once parents see their students' success, they will embrace the bilingual curriculum.

"The way is much clearer. Now I want to see our students prepared for college, capable of accomplishing their goals and becoming successful adults," Harris exclaims.

--Brian Nickel

RELATED ARTICLE: Zamorano: Model of Education and Development

In the early 1940s, a foreign entrepreneur was inspired by the amazing geography, hospitable climate, and welcoming spirit of Honduras to fall in love with the country and build a dream there. Samuel Zemurray, a US citizen who was president of the United Fruit Company at one time, had a vision of benefitting students from Honduras and the entire region by building a high-level agricultural school.

At Zemurray's request, US scientist Wilson Popenoe, a capable and likeable ambassador of good will in Central America, began building the school. He chose a 3,700-acre farm in the Yeguare Valley that once belonged to the Zamora family, originally from Spain, and there he established what in 1941 became the Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School. Popenoe was the first director of the school.

The teaching philosophy and lifestyle at the Zamorano school became one of academic excellence combined with pragmatic action and the concept of Pan-Americanism.

Today, 68 years later, Daniel Myer, the director of general curriculum and a specialist in aquaculture, says that Zamorano is unique for its combination of theoretical and applied teaching. "Here we put students into field experiences that are very similar to real life. Using the 'learning by doing' method, students acquire skills and gain trust in themselves as they prepare to face and find solutions to future challenges." These concepts have been part of the education of almost 6,000 graduates who are now working all over the world. Zamorano graduates can be found today in places like Laos and Ethiopia, working on rural development programs.

Zamorano has become an educational center at the service of the Americas and the entire world, and its students are preparing for the global challenges of environmental sustainability, production, competition, and the fight against poverty. "A Zamorano degree is a passport to universities in the United States and for getting into specialized work," says one recently graduated student.

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The university is located approximately twenty miles from the capital city of Tegucigalpa in a rural area where it is possible to engage in agricultural work and come to understand its associated problems and needs. The campus benefits from local watersheds, natural forests, and gardens. In fact, it is registered in the World Organization of Botanical Gardens. The campus also houses the Wilson Popenoe Library with more than 18,000 books and magazines and the Paul C. Stanley Herbarium with 300,000 classified species and insect collections.

But it's not all "study, study, study." In addition to the classes and special conferences, students enjoy sporting events and parties, and the famous Zamorano Fair brings in people from all over the country.

Women have become increasingly interested in agriculture. While the first six women started school in 1981 and only four graduated in 1983, currently 33 percent of the student body is made up of women who share equally with men in the world of study and experimentation.

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"Excellence that comes from experience" is the idea that Zamorano shares with the surrounding communities, providing them with training in matters related to agriculture, rural tourism, and education for development. The institution participates in exchanges with several universities in the United States and is registered as a not-for-profit corporation, which means there are tax benefits for businesses and corporations that support its programs. Since the primary focus is agriculture, it offers courses in agricultural science and production, agro-industry, agro-business administration, and environmental sciences.

With seven agro-industrial plants, science laboratories, its own fields for farming, and clean and modern facilities, Zamorano is a model agricultural school that promotes local and regional development. It also created ecological awareness and a concern for using and recycling materials in a way that respects the environment.

"The students can get partial or complete financial aid," says Luis Mauricio Salazar, the director of communications for Zamorano. "Most of the students are from Latin America. They live on the campus, and 30 percent of our professors do as well. The idea of Pan-Americanism is promoted, and people share their experiences and create bonds of friendship that last, thanks to the alumni association whose members network with each other to exchange information related to science, labor, or business," explains Salazar.

Sixty percent of the students come from rural areas and are of indigenous origin, so their native language may not be Spanish. Despite the diversity of race, nationality, religion, and culture, however, the students share the same objective: to receive theoretical and practical training for every aspect of agricultural work.

"It's a school where you are encouraged to be active and to reach your aspirations," says one young student who is hoping to have his own business in the food industry and who knows that education and training are key in a globalized and competitive world.

Zamorano provides cognitive instruments and specialized information, but it also trains young people to assume responsibility and leadership, molding them into rural promoters and educating them for the development of their enterprises and businesses. The school's outreach extends to Guatemala, Bolivia, El Salvador, Panama, and Ecuador. Its network is particularly expansive in Central America and it has been successful in getting governments and businesses alike to participate in projects.

Thousands of students have benefitted from the entrepreneurial vision and scientific vocation they have acquired at the Zamorano school. With this education, they have been able to realize their personal, professional, and family goals and support the wellbeing of future generations.

--Adriana Bianco

Chris Hardman is a regular contributor to Americas. She would like to thank Melissa Carvajal of EARTH University for managing interviews while preparing this article and for so graciously hosting her and her family. All images are courtesy of EARTH University, unless otherwise noted.