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Schools & Program
Visits - Feb, 2000 Issue #66
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Integrity
Shores
Cost Rica
Jerry & Maxine Dow
877-362-9887
info@integrityshores.com
A Visit Report by Anne Lewis, IECA, CEP
805-969-2186
EduOptions@aol.com
November, 1999
The Integrity Shores High School campus is located on the Pacific Coast of
Costa Rica, a car trip of approximately one and one half hours from San Jose, the country’s capitol and major air terminal. San Jose
is in the mountainous interior part of Costa Rica. The area’s natural beauty made me feel as if I were at home in Santa Barbara except
that the vegetation is even more lush.
The people in San Jose seem more European than Latin; there are many emigrants
from Germany and the Scandinavian countries and a lot of the architecture is French. San Jose is a modern city; you can find a latte,
a face lift or an Armani suit. Delta, United, and American all fly in from the US.
The drive from San Jose to the Integrity Shores campus has been compared
to drives in the Swiss mountains. In the winter they even have some snow. Comparing Costa Rica to Switzerland goes beyond the mountains:
Costa Rica is known as the Switzerland of Central America because it is a peace loving country and has no army.
The road takes you through coffee plantations, little towns with farmers
herding cattle down the highway, and past soccer fields filled with the families from the community. We passed the stunning new 35
million-dollar Marriott that opened in December, which is about 15 minutes from the Integrity Shores campus. Integrity Shores High
School is located in a small village known for its excellent surfing beaches. The oceanfront site was formerly a modest resort that
Jerry and Maxine Dow spent several months renovating. With the psychologist, they went through every room and “teen-proofed” it, doing
their best to make it safe.
The School’s large blue and pristine white front gate sets the tone for the
clean and orderly campus beyond. The main building is a straight walk from the gate. You can see through its large screen doors to
the ocean. Inside the building you step into a large, sunny and cheerful dining room, a space for informal relaxing, a spotless kitchen,
and the psychologist’s office with windows opening onto the dining room (observations of students couldn’t be easier). On the subject
of the psychologist, he said that he and his staff are looking forward to working with the students in this setting, and will be able
to bring the students’ issues before them 24-7 for self examination.
Jerry and Maxine plan to have faculty members live on campus and some are
there now. Two families came down from Santa Barbara to help with the renovation and were there when I visited. They live in apartments
that were suites when the site was a hotel. The suites are small, but no one seemed to mind because everyone simply wants to be outdoors.
Some of the faculty children are being home-schooled, and some are attending a school in a neighboring village where their Spanish
is getting a lot of use. While I was visiting, one of the children had a birthday party on Sunday afternoon. All of the villagers
were invited and came.
Students who enroll in Integrity Shores will stay in the oceanfront dormitories
on the other side of the dining hall from the faculty housing. Jerry and Maxine plan to use a behavior modification modality to stimulate
a change in the students, so new arrivals will be housed together in a dorm that is easy to supervise. As the students gain trust
and behave more responsibly, they will move up a hierarchy of privileges. Jerry and Maxine plan to have them move into larger rooms
as they succeed in the program and finally move into suites where they will be able to cook some of their own meals and practice independence
under the care of the staff.
The classroom had not been completely wired when I visited, but this should
be completed by the time the School opens in the spring. Other than this, it is ready for students to continue their academic work
through an independent study program. Kenny Smith, a teacher from Santa Barbara who has been in Costa Rica since the summer, is looking
forward to supervising the students’ progress. Kenny and his wife have home-schooled their four children, so they are very experienced
in a self-paced approach to education. The building that will become the library was stuffed with books when I was there.
Maxine is a registered nurse who was working in surgery before she and Jerry
moved to Costa Rica. She will be the on-site nurse. One and one half blocks from the school is the office of an English speaking doctor
who networks with others throughout the country. A clinic is about 12 miles away and a complete hospital about 25 miles or 35 to 40
minutes away. I asked about medical air transports and was told that it would not be possible.
Generally the feeling on the campus is a lot like paradise. The rhythm and
sound of the surf set a tone of healing and wholeness. It sucks you in and you want to disconnect your cell-phone. Materialism and
“stuff” have little appeal in comparison to the natural beauty. You have to be on your toes, though; an iguana might waddle by and
surprise you.
The beach is loved not only by surfers and walkers. Sea turtles have chosen
it as a place to lay their eggs. I was told that Integrity Shores has been asked by the Costa Rican government to help with observations
of the turtles’ egg-laying and, when indicated, the transplanting of the eggs. I was told that 5 of the 6 species of sea turtles can
be observed on this beach, but I don’t know that for a fact. One thing I can believe from my own observations is that Costa Rica has
more varieties of orchids than any other area in the world. They’re prolific.
In addition to observing the sea turtles, Jerry has arranged for the students
to take part in an environmental camp that is located in the mountains above the School. A high ropes course is part of the camp.
When I returned to Santa Barbara I was telling a family about Costa Rica
and the School site. The young man with whom I was working asked, “Why do you have to mess up to go to this school?” The answer came
from Integrity Shore’s psychologist who said, “The heartbeat of our efforts needs to be kids who need another chance at life.”
Copyright © 2000, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced
without prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)
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