Years after graduation, some TCU alumni might continue their higher education in the depths of a Costa Rican volcano.

The TCU Alumni Association will sponsor a trip to Costa Rica for graduates 21 years and older in June, according to the Froglinks website.

There are 36 spots available, and a great amount of interest has surrounded the trip, Kristi Hoban, director of Travel and Lifelong Learning Programs, said.

In the past the association has taken trips to Paris and Normandy, France and Washington, D.C. In Washington, D.C., the group met with other alumni, such as a curator for the Smithsonian Museum, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and “Face the Nation” moderator Bob Schieffer, Hoban said.

On this trip, Mike Slattery, director of the Institute for Environmental Studies, will lead the group through the university’s research station. Slattery said he will show the participants facilities such as the tree house lab, various trails and labs used to study species diversity. He said he hoped alumni would learn about the rich diversity in Costa Rica and the problems it faced with economic development’s effect on the environment.

Harvey Boysen, company president of Gulliver’s Travels, a local travel agency, said the travel agency arranged the itinerary for the trip and has worked with the university on similar trips for the past 15 years. The trip would include activities such as a visit to an organic chocolate factory, a river safari and a hike on hanging bridges to a volcano with an optional zip line ride down.

The destination is fairly inexpensive, he said, especially with the group rate.

Alumni and friends of the Neeley School of Business and the John V. Roach Honors College would take a similar trip to Spain, Dean of the Neeley School Homer Erekson said. Both Erekson and Dean of the John V. Roach Honors College Peggy Watson have a connection with the destination. Watson teaches Spanish and would give a presentation about the Spanish culture while Erekson spoke about the global economy.

He said when traveling it was important to “begin to connect your senses to the culture you are seeing,” and he said he hoped these presentations would help the group reflect on that.

The Maxcel Company, which is run by alumna Glenna Brush, is organizing this trip to Seville and Granada, Spain in May, according to the Neeley website. The trip was designed around a survey given out last year to Neeley alumni concerning the cost, length and destination of the trip, Brush said.

The itinerary would include viewing a sunset over Alhambra, trekking the Sierra Nevada mountains, wine tasting and other exclusive tours.

“I think the trip is going to be filled with the same kind of energy that the people at the school, TCU, have,” she said.

Costa Rica
Registration deadline: Friday, Feb. 3rd
Gulliver’s Travels: 817-924-7766
[email protected]

Spain
Registration deadline: Tuesday, Jan. 31
To register: www.neeley.tcu.edu/alumnitrip