Our group with the Costa Rican students.

Take a compassionate idea...
About three months before we left, we started having group meetings. At the first meeting we were told about some of the things that we would be doing while we were in Costa Rica. One of these things was spending a day in a Costa Rican school teaching elementary-aged kids a little bit of English and possibly playing small games with them.

Some examples of past lessons were sports, animals, colors, food, and many more. We were asked to split into groups of three or four people. We were given about two months before our lesson plans had to be turned in to our teacher.

An idea gains momentum! My group and I were brain-storming about what we could do with our kids, and decided that we wanted to do something educational, but also have a really fun activity for the kids to do. I had recently learned how to sport stack with Speed Stacks from a girl on my hockey team, so I suggested that we could do that for an ending activity for the kids. My friends were hesitant to comply with my plan. They had no idea what sport stacking was. The next day I brought my cups to school and showed them what Speed Stacks were and how to do it. It was almost like my excitement that I had in my idea was instantly transferred to them. No one was more excited about the Speed Stacks plan than my teacher, Señora Hagen. She’s been going down to Costa Rica with students for ten years, and knew how much the kids would enjoy the activity.

A couple of days later I went on the Speed Stack web site to look into ordering cups.

I was a bit disappointed... I figured that I needed at least ten sets of cups and that added up to an extra two hundred dollars. I knew that there was no way that I could buy the cups on top of paying for the trip. My mom suggested to me that I should try to contact the Speed Stacks company and see if they would be willing to donate cups to the school in Costa Rica.

Speed Stacks steps up... I was so lucky to receive an e-mail back from a lady named Lori Bissell. She said that owner, Bob Fox wished to give a cup donation to my situation.

I’m so glad that I was able to receive the donation because my experience was beyond what I could have imagined.

Our group arrives in Costa Rica... When we pulled up to the school in Costa Rica we were greeted by kids pressed up against a fence. They all looked so cute. Half of the kids were in their school uniforms and the other half were in traditional Costa Rican clothing. The kids were all jumping up and down, waving and yelling.

The principal of the school stood up and talked about the kids in the school for a bit. She said that for many of the kids the school was their escape from an abusive household. Many of the kids were victims of both physical and emotional abuse and some were even being used for prostitution. Remember that we were at an elementary school. What was even more amazing was their ability to keep smiling through it all. Those were some of the happiest kids I have ever seen.

Before we got off the bus Señora Hagen told us that the school we were at was one of the poorest in Costa Rica. As we got off the bus a kid was there to take our hand and usher us up a hill to their school where we were seated for a short program. The kids sang and danced in costumes for us.

Sport stacking debuts... After all of the introductions to the school, we broke into our groups and went into the classrooms. There were a lot less kids in the class than we thought there would be.

My group and I began with introducing farm animals to the kids, then worked our way into colors and played a few small games with them.

We decided that we should save the cups for last because we knew that once we got them out the kids wouldn’t want to do anything else. When the time finally came when we could take out the cups, the kids got really excited. They hadn’t even known what they were but the bright colors made them giddy. It was hard to get their attention back after the cups were taken out of their bags.

Once we could finally get them listening again I demonstrated what sport stacking looked like. Their faces lit up and immediately they wanted to know how to do it. I took them through the routine step-by-step. They all had their instruction papers out in front of them while they followed along. My Spanish is sort of rough, so having the extra visuals helped. It was cool to see that by the end of the time at the school they not only knew how to stack the cups, but they were getting faster and better at it.

Cups STAY to the delight of the students... Right before we left the classroom we told the kids that we were leaving the cups at the school. Some looked confused at first and with a little more explanation from other students they finally got that they could keep the cups. They were so happy; they were still playing with the cups as we were leaving the room.

After we ate lunch it was time for us to leave. All of the kids crowded around us as we walked back down the hill.

They would put pieces of paper in front of us wanting our autographs. It was almost as if we were celebrities.

It was hard for all of us to leave the school. The chances are very slim that any of us will ever see any of those kids ever again.

This whole experience has taught me that the selfless act of donations as simple as Speed Stacks can mean the world to a less fortunate person.

I want to thank Speed Stacks and Bob Fox for this life changing experience; without you I don’t think we could have made the kids smile as big as they did. The time I spent in the school not only reiterated the belief that it’s better to give than receive, but has opened my eyes a whole avenue of selfless acts that we can do for others.

www.speedstacks.com

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