Malvina Pietrzykowski Studies Conflict in Costa Rica

2017 Jun 13

A group of honors students from Eastern Connecticut State University spent 10 days in Costa Rica this May for a field course that examined the country's rich biodiversity and developing agricultural industry. Among the travelers from Eastern was Malvina Pietrzykowski '19 of Norwich, who majors in Psychology.

"This course required students to examine the conflict between preservation of the tropical rainforest and Costa Rica's economic shift to export-focused agriculture," said Patricia Szczys, biology professor and trip supervisor.

"This field course complimented our classroom learning by enhancing what we studied through hiking in the forest, observing various organisms and speaking with locals," said Pietrzykowski. "It's truly a unique learning experience to personally witness in the wild what we studied throughout the semester."

The trip to Costa Rica was the field component of a course taken on the Eastern campus during the academic year. The students toured the tropical rainforest as well as plantations that grow pineapples, bananas, peppercorn and coffee. They even participated in a community service project where they planted 100 trees at a peppercorn farm as part of a reforestation effort.

"The most eye-opening part of the trip was witnessing the region's great biodiversity firsthand," said Pietrzykowski. "I was in awe of the sheer amount of beautiful life all around us and how different the environment looked and sounded compared to Connecticut."