Coffee Sales Finance
Costa Rican Adventure
By Melissa Slager, Heraldnet.com
EDMONDS - Tebra Draper, 16, can pull out her
notes and list some interesting facts about
the leatherback sea turtles that nest on
Costa Rica's Caribbean beaches. The massive
turtles can reach lengths of 7 feet and
weigh up to 2,000 pounds, feeding largely on
jellyfish, their food de elección.
“They're big boys — big ladies, too,” said
Draper, adding females lay up to 80 eggs at
a time.
But now the high school sophomore is ready
to stop reading and start seeing what she's
learning about.
The leatherbacks are a highly publicized
target of poachers and conservationists
alike, who try to outmaneuver each other to
either exploit or protect the turtles and
their prized eggs.
“I want to save some turtles and maybe see
some babies hatch — that'd be cool,” Draper
said.
Draper is among a dozen Scriber Lake High
School teens hoping to raise enough money to
make such a trip to Costa Rica this May, at
the height of sea turtle season.
So far, the teen has raised $350 toward the
$2,333 she needs to make the trip through
Poulsbo-based EcoTeach, largely through
selling bags of fair-trade Costa Rican
coffee.
All together, the school is hoping to raise
nearly $28,000. Teacher Chris Brown said the
group is a little over halfway to its goal,
thanks in good part to the local Rotary
Club, the Edmonds Exchange Club and shoppers
outside the local PCC market.
“Now we really have to dig in to make this
happen,” Brown said.
This is more than an excursion to the
tropics.
“It's life changing. I really mean that,”
Brown said.
Scriber Lake is a small alternative school
that takes in kids who don't mesh with the
traditional high school experience. Many of
its students also come from low-income
families. In other words, they don't fit the
bill of the school groups that most often
take these kinds of eco-adventure trips —
the “we-can-write-a-check-for-it kind of
people,” as Brown puts it.
But the school did just that two years ago,
when a group of 15 students went to Costa
Rica on the school's first-ever
international trip.
“When I see the kids who came back … it's
still on the fronts of their minds,” Brown
said.
That inaugural effort was led by teacher
Marjie Bowker and Brown. Bowker, who now
teaches in Vietnam, has been encouraging
Brown as he attempts to pull off this second
trip.
“The fact that I know it can be done is
driving me on here — that, and e-mails from
Vietnam saying ‘You can do it,' ” Brown
said.
EcoTeach leads the trips from its office in
Costa Rica, hiring local guides and tapping
its other connections.
Students will help corral turtle eggs into
protected areas, clean up trash on beaches,
visit a local indigenous tribe and ride a
zip line, among many other adventures, as
they learn about reforestation efforts,
endangered species, agricultural culture and
various animal habitats along the way.
“I'm really excited,” said Draper, who is
now looking for other hot spots to sell
coffee and writing letters to potential
donors. “I'm not sure what I expect to get
out of it, but I've heard amazing things. …
I can't wait.”
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