How One Student is Spending Summer in Costa Rica
Haileigh Stephens ’24 is a Chatham University undergraduate majoring in sustainability. This year, she was awarded the Gilman Scholarship to study abroad in Costa Rica. (Photo courtesy of Haileigh Stephens)
Haileigh Stephens ’24 applied to her study abroad program with fingers crossed.
Not sure how she would bear the full cost of studying outside the country, she applied for the Gilman Scholarship, which helps students study or intern abroad.
“I knew that, whatever program I chose, I would definitely need a scholarship to help fund my trip,” Stephens said. “I went in hoping for the best.”
Her hopes were fulfilled.
In June, Stephens arrived in Costa Rica to study with the Institute for Central American Development Studies and start her internship with Fundación Mujer, a nonprofit that primarily serves female refugees and immigrants in the Central American country.
On a phone call with Pulse@ChathamU, Stephens, speaking from San José, said she’d been living in the capital city with a host family while taking classes on biodiversity, Spanish language, and Costa Rican culture.
“When people think Costa Rica, they think of the tropical rainforest and the ocean, which is a very big part of Costa Rica’s image,” she said. “But being in the city has also shaped my view of what the country is like. That’s been pretty cool, because, if I was a tourist coming for a week, I may not have visited San José.”
An undergraduate at Chatham University, Stephens majors in sustainability. She knew she wanted to study the topic since high school, when she completed a senior-year research paper about the climate migration and displacement that results from natural disasters.
“I wanted to learn more about that and how cities can accept migrants in a sustainable way,” she said. “I just thought it was really eye-opening how much people in the U.S., me included, have an impact on people who live thousands of miles away from us.”
She came to Chatham after learning more about the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment and Eden Hall Campus. She also enjoys the Shadyside Campus, with its lush arboretum tucked away in the city of Pittsburgh.
For her capstone, Stephens created a proposed syllabus and module that could be used for a course about climate and forced migration, which she developed with the help of professors Joshua Mullenite and Iris Grossman.
“There’s definitely professors at Chatham who provide good opportunities to take a project and run with it in the direction you’re interested in,” she said of her capstone.
Professor Grossman, alongside Karin Chipman, a study abroad coordinator in Chatham’s Office of International Affairs, also helped Stephens apply to her study abroad program, she said.
“[Chipman] was extremely helpful,” Stephens said. “She told me about what students wrote about in the past and proofread my essay. She was really great about answering any study abroad questions I had without making me feel like I was asking too many things.”
Stephens poses for a photo during her study abroad program in Costa Rica. (Courtesy of Haileigh Stephens)
When she learned she was awarded the scholarship, she was excited, feeling bolstered in her decision to study abroad.
“It was a game changer for me,” Stephens said. “It is very expensive to study abroad, and it’s something that a lot of students would love to do.”
She took some of that confidence to Fundación Mujer, where, on her first day on the job, Stephens and another intern spearheaded a new project with the foundation. It’s a workshop that focuses on how climate change and environmental disasters impact women differently than men—something that sits squarely within the crossroads of her own interests and the mission of the nonprofit.
“I get to share some of my environmental and sustainability knowledge there,” Stephens said.
In addition to her internship and classes, Stephens has spent her first few weeks abroad touring a volcano and visiting a coffee farm, as well as taking the bus around San José and observing the rhythms of life in a new city.
She wraps up in early August, when she’ll return to Chatham for her final semester. Stephens, who came to Chatham with a handful of college credits from dual enrollment classes in high school, is set to graduate after just two years at the University.
She said: “I think I’m just planning to keep my eyes open for whatever job opportunities present themselves.”
Learn how Chatham University can help you study abroad and find more information about the Bachelor of Sustainability degree at chatham.edu.