Student Travel Instructions and Application
The Partners of the Americas High School Exchange Program has a great opportunity to offer you! This program is an excellent opportunity for you to use and improve your Spanish language skills while experiencing the culture of Costa Rica first-hand. We are pleased that you are applying to be a traveler for our program. It is important to our organization that travelers are appropriately selected and adequately prepared for the travel experience. Please read through the information carefully.
All applicants are required to attend and participate fully in all mandatory orientation sessions on:
Getting to Know you: Sunday, February 26 @ 9 am - 3 pm
Student Interviews and Presentations: Sunday, March 19 @ 9 am - 3 pm
Overnight Orientation: Friday, April 14 @ 4 pm - Saturday, April 15 @ 2 pm
Thank You Presentation Practice: Sunday, May 21 @ 9 am - 3 pm
Final Orientation: Sunday, June 11 @ 9 am - 3 pm
Times and locations can be found on the Student Travel – Important Program Dates page. While your attendance at the Informational Orientation is not required, it is strongly recommended because we discuss the program, application requirements, and acceptance criteria in detail.
This is an exchange program; travelers will be asked to commit to hosting a Costa Rican Student for 4 weeks during December or January before or after traveling to Costa Rica. If you are unable to host, you may find a “surrogate” family to host on your behalf.
The Student Travel Application, Parent Questionnaire, Confidential References, and Transcript must be submitted electronically. Please follow the directions below for the remaining student application requirements. Please contact Karla Rodriguez at [email protected] if alternate accommodations need to be made.
The Student Travel Application and Parent Questionnaire can be saved, but it is best to complete the information in one sitting. Each document should take around 30 minutes to complete. The application also asks the traveler to upload a recent photo of themselves. Please make/save a copy of your application prior to submission.
- Student Travel Application – Electronic main application/demographic information to be completed by the applicant. This form should take about 60 minutes to complete.
- Parent Questionnaire – Electronic questionnaire Questions to be answered by your parents/guardians. This form cannot be saved, plan to complete it in one sitting (it should take about 30 minutes to complete). Please make/save a copy of the questionnaire prior to submission.
- Confidential References – The three references must include: (1) Spanish teacher (2) Another teacher or counselor (3) Family friend or another adult who knows you well (who is not immediate family). References will be emailed upon receipt of their recommendation. Please provide this form to your references. Please provide this electronic link to your references. https://www.partnersorcr.com/traveling-confidential-reference/
- Unofficial high school transcript email to [email protected].
- $30 non-refundable processing fee – check should be made out to Partners of the Americas. Please send your application fee to: Partners of the Americas, c/o Dan Green, 123 Barclay Ave, Oregon City, OR 97405.
Please do not include any other documents with the application fee, all application materials should be submitted electronically. If you need to send something other than the application fee via mail, please contact, [email protected] for the address.
