Learning with Impact

Experience That Transforms

Learning with Impact highlights immersive, hands-on experiences that blend education, cultural exchange, and real-world projects to create lasting benefits for both learners and communities, while inspiring sustainable change.

Meet Our First QES Scholars!

In Spring 2025, we proudly selected our first group of Queen Elizabeth Scholars to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime, 60-day experiential learning journey in Costa Rica.

Congratulations to Lucia Kiernan, Bianca Corbeil, Kadin Hemeon, and Jo-Zef Mathieu, who were joined by staff mentor Clint Gore on this incredible cross-cultural and sustainability-focused adventure.

The group departed on Saturday, June 14 and returned on Wednesday, August 13 - and in between, they accomplished some incredible things.

Here’s a look at their 3-part journey!

Part 1

Farm 17 (Providencia de Dota) with Green Communities Costa Rica

- Building & Learning: Helped construct a habitat pond at Farm 17, participated in daily sustainability workshops, and supported local conservation and community projects. They also became the first students to learn in our outdoor classroom!
- Cultural Exchange: Explored coffee and sugarcane production, took cooking classes with local families, and immersed themselves in music, dance, and crafts.
- Exploration & Reflection: Hiked cloud forests in search of the Quetzal bird, visited waterfalls, and participated in daily journaling and group reflections.
- Youth Connections: Connected with Young Dreamers to share sustainability ideas and build global friendships.

Part 2

Language Revitalization & Community Engagement with Universidad Castro Carazo

- Maleku Language Project: Collaborated with the Maleku community to preserve the endangered Maleku Jaika language using AI tools, supporting efforts to revitalize cultural identity.
- Community Volunteering: Contributed to local priority projects within the Maleku territory, aligned with cultural values and sustainability.
- La Fortuna Activities: Participated in conservation at the Ecological Park Carbon Footprint Project, explored regenerative farming, supported children at El Hogarcito Orphanage, and joined classroom learning sessions.
- Cultural & Natural Exploration: Enjoyed visits to hot springs, waterfalls, and hanging bridges, and celebrated longevity during a special visit to Nicoya’s Blue Zone and José Flores’s 118th birthday.

Part 3

Immersive Learning at Tecnológico de Costa Rica (TEC)

Our Scholars deepened their cultural understanding during a transformative stay at TEC University in Cartago:

- Home stays: Lived with local families for an authentic cultural experience and daily connection to Costa Rican life.
- Language & History: Took part in interactive Spanish classes and explored Cartago’s rich heritage through guided historical tours. They even had the opportunity to visit the local fire hall!

The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships (QES) is managed through a unique partnership of Universities Canada, the Rideau Hall Foundation, and Canadian postsecondary institutions.

QES 2025 is made possible with financial contributions from the Rideau Hall Foundation.

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Set in the misty cloud forest inside the UNESCO Savegre Biosphere Reserve, Farm 17 is a living classroom owned by Canadore College in partnership with Green Communities Costa Rica. The Savegre River runs through the site, which is home to thousands of plants and animals.

Farm 17 is a working shade-grown coffee farm that also produces bananas, lemons, limes, avocados, tangerines, and more. The campus features an off-grid outdoor classroom with a recycled-material roof and an off-grid washroom with compostable toilets - showcasing low-impact, closed-loop design. Students and partners learn through hands-on agroforestry, habitat restoration, and watershed stewardship.

Try the Coffee

Explore Green Communities Costa Rica

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Co-delivered with Beyond21 Academy, the three-day intensive moved learners from concept to campus action on circular economy, biomimicry, and climate solutions. Current students, alumni, faculty, and staff worked side-by-side in mixed teams, using design sprints, site audits, materials-flow mapping, and rapid prototyping to co-create solutions now being piloted across programs and operations. The course culminated in planting a dense, native-species Miyawaki micro-forest on campus to boost biodiversity, sequester carbon, and serve as a living lab.

We’re continuing the work with Beyond21 Academy through monthly monitoring - health checks, biodiversity counts, soil and moisture testing, and tracking survivorship and canopy closure - and we share measurements every month to inform adaptive stewardship and integrate the data into student field labs and dashboards.

Explore Beyond21 Academy

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Wild & Cultivated: A Mushroom Learning Workshop

Join us for a hands-on, two-day workshop exploring wild mushroom identification and practical home cultivation, led by experienced educators.

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