Samuel Zucker

= Division III =

''This article is part of a Climax Div III Issue. ''

Samuel Zucker first became interested in Costa Rica during a semester spent abroad in his junior year—but it didn’t turn into a Div III for a while: “Last summer I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so I sat down and wrote out every class that I had really enjoyed, what I had enjoyed about them, and what projects could be done about them.” Samuel, an NS student, had previously studied tourism and conservation—energy sources and the interplay between culture and the environment. So Samuel searched around the school and, using grants from SS and NS, developed a program of study including a six-week trip to Costa Rica starting in Jan Term. While in Costa Rica, Samuel lived “in an apartment in Manuel Antonio, interviewing tourists, locals, and government officials, trying to construct a history of the town and a sense for the current dependency of the area on tourism.” This reporter was also in Costa Rica over Jan Term and can vouch for the fact that tourists and Dole are huge factors in the economy down there.

“Trying to create a picture of the town through case study” took a lot of footwork. After actually living on-site, Samuel experienced a change of perspective: “I realized that my conclusions at the end were that tourism is complex and sort of vague as far as being negative or positive. I expected to have a really negative view, going in… I wish I had read more before the project.” The experience has lead to a summer job—Samuel will be going back down to Costa Rica to lead a student group with younger kids. Overall, Samuel feels like it worked out well: “People always told me that it would come together, and it did.”