Program Overview

The QERC Spring semester program provides a competitive and interdisciplinary approach to environment and conservation.  Our program asks the student to move beyond the familiar classroom atmosphere and into classrooms composed of montane cloud forests, coastal mangroves, rural hospitals, and tropical wetlands.

Our program is designed to holistically engage students in work and programmed experiences that will provide them with the opportunities to develop knowledge and skills in the areas of field research, ecological principles, environmental ethics from a Christian worldview, and in the development of a culture-orientated perspective.  In this manner students will cultivate and demonstrate applicable approaches to issues of environment and conservation within their geographical and political contexts and the contemporary global challenges facing them.

Courses

The QERC semester program is currently geared toward students with an academic emphasis in environmental sciences, biology, pre-health, and the natural sciences.  Our program provides courses that keep students on their particular academic schedule while providing more specialized electives for a student’s particular interest.  For more information, check out our 2014 course catalogue.

Curriculum Highlights

• Nicaragua Cultural Studies Trip

  • During the first two weeks of February, we trek into the rural farms of Nicaragua to work with and live with the campesinos of the local villages.  This trip starts with a historic tour of Managua, and ends with a few days of relaxation in Granada.

• Costa Rica Biomes Tour

  • Our biomes tour consists of two weeks traveling to different ecological habitats located throughout Costa Rica.  Through this traveling experience, you will become familiarized with lowlands dry forest, wetlands forest, marine habitat, and sites of volcanic activity.

• La Piedra Cloud Forest Hike  

  • La Piedra is San Gerardo's nearest neighbor, located in the valley over.  A day’s hike to the village will provide a comprehensive examination of the cloud forest in which you’ll be living and working. 

• Coastal Herpetology Expedition

  • For Spring 2014 Dr. John Cossel (NNU) is leading a trip to Hacienda Baru where students have immediate encounters with the dense and diverse population of Costa Rican herpetofauna.

• Community Involvement

  • We encourage students to participate and take part with the community in which they live.  Read more in Student Life.   

Program Accommodations

During our semester term, students stay primarily in the QERC field station dormitories.  However, while traveling, students will be staying at a variety of lodgings, from hotels to host families.  Be sure to check out the QERC gallery to take a look around campus.