Friends of Copey are grateful for the Emory & Henry University team of Professors who traveled to Copey, Costa Rica to experience first-hand the culture, community, and students attending The Copey Learning Center.
Pura Vida of Copey, Costa Rica
Thirteen years ago, Arthur “Scrapper” Broady, E&H Class of 1970, sat down with me on a quiet Friday afternoon in my office on the campus of Emory & Henry College. We talked about our mothers who had recently passed and how much we missed them. We talked about this little town called Copey that had made its way into Arthur’s heart. Little did I know that meeting would grow into one of the most special partnerships that the E&H Office of International Education provides for students and the Southwest Virginia community.
It took us three years after that meeting, but finally in 2016, Emory & Henry sent the first two students to Copey to teach English at the Copey Learning Center. When these students returned to the U.S. after four weeks, they were accompanied by the Director of the Learning Center and two Copey high school students. This was the first year of the official partnership!
Since 2016, 13 Emory & Henry students have spent a month in Copey, Costa Rica teaching English and 15 Copey high school students have spent time on the Emory & Henry campus, exploring the college and the Southwest Virginia region.
In all of these years, I had not had the opportunity to visit Copey, but this year would be the time for me to visit along with our Cultural Studies and Spanish Language professors, Dr. Oleski Miranda Navarro and Profesora Mary Boltwood. We were optimistic about the visit, but had no idea what to expect.
Copey de Dota is a small mountainous district in central Costa Rica located at an elevation of about 6,000 feet. It is known for its cool climate, cloud forests, coffee farms, and rich biodiversity. My dear friend and colleague Monica Hoel, integral to the E&H and Copey partnership, had explained to me all of the amazing wildlife, particularly our bird friends, that we would see in Copey. She was absolutely correct. Immediately we had our Cornell University Ornithology Lab app (courtesy of Monica’s recommendation) identifying birds that live where we were staying at the El Toucanet Lodge. The birds were amazing, but the most special part was that Lourdes, one of the Copey students who visited Emory & Henry years ago, was the primary reception attendant and server at the lodge. Lourdes was able to secure her position at El Toucanet due to her English skills gained at the Copey Learning Center. It was like a full-circle experience to see Lourdes, a student who visited Emory in 2018, checking in guests, attending to their needs, and in charge of all guest services.
Although I agree with Monica that the biodiversity in Copey is unmatched, I have to say that the kindness and hospitality of the people in Copey is what I will remember most. Our hosts, Lorena, Gloria, Catalina, and Luis made certain that we experienced all of Copey including the local coffee farm, winery, mountaintop cafe, church, and of course, the Copey Learning Center. We were also welcomed by Margarita, who visited E&H in 2023 and Leonor, who plans to visit in 2027. At the Learning Center, we met with our Emory & Henry students, Carson and Drea, who were living and teaching in Copey. I could not stop smiling when I watched our E&H students helping the younger students with their ABCs and numbers. As we watched them all playing freeze tag and redlight greenlight, it was clear that our students had made a home in Copey. The children laughed and played with Carson and Drea as if they had known them forever.
We were often greeted with “Pura Vida,” the unofficial national slogan of Costa Rica that represents a philosophy of living, a warm greeting, an expression of gratitude, and a reminder to be present and appreciate the simple things in life. This is what we experienced in Copey and at the Learning Center.
My colleagues and I marveled at the program that Arthur Broady had envisioned during a fishing trip to Costa Rica and made reality with persistence and the desire to give back to his alma mater and the town of Copey in memory of his dear mother, Anne G. Broady. This program ties Emory & Henry University, USA and Copey, Costa Rica together in a cultural and educational exchange partnership that enriches both communities for the foreseeable future. What E&H students learn from Copey and what Copey students learn from their time at Emory & Henry, is shared with their families, local communities, and beyond.
At Emory & Henry, we have a saying, “When you are here, you are home.” All of us at Emory & Henry can now say the same about Copey, Costa Rica.
Dr. Celeste Gaia, Director of International Education