Twelve Emmaus High School students had the unique opportunity to take an educational trip to Costa Rica and Panama over the summer.

The students, with their biology teachers Tracy Dreher and Kristen Susens decided to go the extra mile to gain hands on knowledge about science, Spanish and community service. They took their education out of the books, off the computer screen and into the rainforests of Central America.

Students had a packed 12-day itinerary which featured tours of local plantations, like the chocolate farm they explored in the Tirimbina Biological Reserve, teaching them the importance of organic food, walks through the rainforest, encountering many exotic and sometimes dangerous species of animals and a day of community service in the small town of Tanque, where students helped with painting, gardening and repairs while learning some of the local cultural heritage.

"It was a very good group," Dreher said about the students. "We saw huge starfish while swimming at the island of Bocas del Toro, played soccer and volleyball with the locals at Red Frog Beach and saw lots of snakes including many poisonous species, such as pit vipers."

"As a biology teacher it is great to see wildlife in its natural environment," Dreher said.

The students conducted water studies and found tadpoles they are still working to identify, saw a rare glimpse of vampire bats in Tirimbina and zip lined in La Fortuna with a magnificent view of the active Arenal volcano.

The trip was coordinated through Chill Expeditions which is an educational travel company founded by two teachers who wanted to create a personally tailored educational experience to go above and beyond the normal sphere of education.

"The many experienced guides are constantly teaching on the trip," Brian Benson, general manager of Chill Expeditions, said in a phone interview from Costa Rica. "Their teacher [Dreher] was such an amazing leader for the kids and the itinerary was very well rounded."

This was Dreher's third trip to Costa Rica and her second time with Chill Expeditions. She traveled to the country previously to take a sample of the curriculum so she could help tailor the experience specifically to her students.

"I learned to not always wonder what time it was because we didn't have clocks around us all of the time," Emmaus High School student Justine Coleman said. "We just went with the flow and I learned so much about the rainforest by seeing it first-hand."

In addition to all of the experiences and sights the students took in, they learned about each other. They worked together and practiced teambuilding with activities like whitewater rafting while they explored the vast and wild terrain together.

"I love biology and the guides knew a lot about everything. We saw a rhinoceros beetle, the second most poisonous snake in Costa Rica and many more live examples of wildlife," Emmaus High School student Sydney Pickering said. "I went into the trip knowing two people and came out having 14 new friends."