Future Campus

For the last 4 years, we have been engaged in an intensive search for a new home for UWC Costa Rica. This search was never about just “new buildings” but about a new campus that would serve the broadened, inspired vision of our special UWC mission in Costa Rica for many generations of young people to come. 

We found the perfect place! And, we are very grateful to have found in Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, extraordinary partners in making the new home of UWC Costa Rica a reality. Through their generosity, we are now the owners of 48 hectares of beautiful land above the town of San Isidro de Heredia. It is adjacent to Braulio Carrillo National Park, a vast protected forest, rich in hundreds of species of wildlife. Braulio Carrillo is the second-largest park in the country and home of the largest water source for the central valley of Costa Rica. Our property has a natural reserve, a rich ecosystem where our students will have the opportunity to live, study, and grow, immersed in the land we will protect and nurture.

 

Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, long supporters of the UWC movement, see the strong synergy between Costa Rica’s deep commitment and global leadership in tackling Climate Change, youth education, and regional peacemaking and UWC Costa Rica’s values and expanded educational mission. It is unique to have such a solid alignment between a UWC school and the host country. It is a great opportunity. 

The design of the new campus is thought to inhabit and respect this beautiful environment inspired by Costa Rica’s unique nature and incorporating the best practices for an environmentally sustainable home for creative experiential education. A place where our community of students and staff will live and thrive and where clean energy production is but one part of our goal to be a reference in 21st century school design.  With many diverse partnerships and this rich environment, the students will have the opportunities to develop projects in their areas of interest and learn from where they live.  And it is where, as one alumnus said, “this is a place where they can feel peace.”

The new campus will have the space to invest in the programs for special conferences, programs in leadership and conflict transformation, design thinking, science, and innovation. This will also be a place for our community to be engaged with our closest neighbors of San Isidro as together; we find opportunities to be a mutual part of the town and be of service to the children and adults of San Isidro.

Rose-Marie and Eijk’s generous donation and their outstanding support of time, expertise, and energy are just the beginning. It is an extraordinary opportunity and the right time in the life of the college. It is audacious and forward-leaning, and that is really exciting. Each of you is an essential partner in shaping and making this vision a reality.

¡Felicidades! This is a celebration for all. We look forward to having your participation, your talents, ideas as we take the official first step to begin a campaign to scale our impact and further live the UWC mission.