by Khalida Lockheed | Jun 18, 2018
This year’s athletic season, and swimming in particular, has prompted some confusion amongst our community. “What national competition are you talking about NOW?” In an effort to clear up some of the confusion, the following is an explanation:
MEP – Student Sports Games
Every year, since 2014, Futuro Verde has participated in the Student Games organized by the Ministry of Education which is overseen by the Costa Rican Sports Commission (ICODER). We have won medals in swimming at the National level in both individual and relay events since we first entered these games. In 2016, after winning a gold medal in her individual event, Emma Garcia was invited by ICODER to join a selection of Student Games winners at the Central American Student Games in El Salvador. This year’s national events for primary and secondary took place in June with gold and silver medals. Emma Garcia won gold medals in both the 50 meter breaststroke and freestyle, the relay team in Category B (Elana Jiménez, Emma Garcia, Maya Salazar, and Samantha Fonseca) won silver medals in two relays, and our combined relay team in Category A (Leandro Salazar, Kai MacKenzie, Quetzal Ramírez, and Solana Chiaverini) won gold!
ICODER National Sports Games
This year, several of Futuro Verde’s more senior swimmers were invited to join the team of the district of Nicoya (ANANI) to participate with them in the National Games, also overseen by ICODER. These games include a wide array of sports and the finals take place in June and July. Accompanied by our Athletic Director, our swimmers participated in two Eliminatory competitions, with only the top 8 swimmers qualifying in each event. The final for swimming will take place in Cartago from July 9-12th. Four of Futuro Verde’s swimmers qualified for the finals: Sebastian Bravo, Fiona Jiménez, Elana Jiménez, and Emma Garcia. (Soleil Michaud qualified as a substitute). Fingers crossed for our swimmers in this prestigious event!
FECONA National Championship
As if the above weren’t enough, four of Futuro Verde’s swimmers, Soleil Michaud, Fiona Jiménez, Elana Jiménez, and Emma Garcia, also became “federated” swimmers with the swim club “El Milenio” in Escazu and had the opportunity to participate in the nationally recognized competitions associated with FECONA (National Federation of Swimming). During the course of the season, they competed in swim competitions which took place around the country providing the swimmers with the opportunity to post official times with FECONA. Swimmers who achieved times qualifying them in Mark A or B were invited to participate in the National Championship which took place in Cartago in May. All four Futuro Verde swimmers qualified to compete in the Championship and Fiona won the bronze medal in the 50 meter breaststroke event.
The sports program at Futuro Verde, often under-resourced and without adequate training facilities, has nevertheless offered our students a base from which they have sprung to achieve national success. Enormous credit for this success is shared by all involved – our dedicated coaches, our strong and resilient athletes, our committed parents and the Futuro Verde school philosophical commitment to the development of holistic student-athletes. We look forward to seeing an even larger group of Futuro Verde athletes in more sports participate in national events in the future!
by Stuart Millar, IB coordinator | Jan 20, 2018
The start of every school year brings some new things to get excited about, and this year is no different!
Middle and high school students in grades 7-10 will be offered greater choice than ever before in the areas of physical education, the arts, and a third language.
Just some of the highlights include:
- Visual arts and music electives will be offered on a semester basis. This will allow students more hours per week to focus on the visual arts or music course they are taking. As they move up the grades, students will be able to select visual art or music courses that interest them, depending on availability and space.
- All 7th-grade students will embark on a Classical Languages course with Don Byrne, while students in 8th and 9th grades will be given the option of studying Classical Languages with Oscar Leal Méndez or French with Eugenia Allen. It is worth noting that French is for students who are new to or have little experience with the language. It is not designed for those who are already advanced or native speakers.
- Athletic director Alejandro Ramírez, with the support of Eugenia Allen, will be incorporating more options and choice, while still focusing on a core offering for all students. The list of choices for the entire year is yet to be finalized but the first choice will be between swimming and mountain biking.
We are excited to bring even more to our holistic offering at Futuro Verde. As the school year starts, students will hear much more about our offering of electives. Make sure you ask your middle or high school student what fun and exciting things they are up to!
by Lural Ramirez | Dec 26, 2017
As Futuro Verde moves into its first year as an IB World School, we are excited for some new curricular changes in 2018 that will benefit students at all ages and stages in our school and better prepare all students for their new end goal of an IB diploma!
In preschool and primary school:
- Two sessions of mindfulness classes for each grade, each month- keeping kids in touch with their emotions and on the path to a healthy, calm and mindful self
- Weekly library time- to listen to a story read aloud by our librarian Daniela Ugalde and to check out or renew a book from our school library, which boasts over 5,000 unique titles at all reading levels. Building their love for reading one book at a time!
- CREW time twice weekly- this extension of ‘homeroom’ assures everyone in class is a part of the crew, no passengers allowed. A great time to set class goals, reflect and build community!
All of these changes come in addition to the holistic offering Futuro Verde has always shown commitment to: swimming, physical education, art, music, environmental education, comparative language study, global studies, technology classes, peace practices and all the basic subjects required under Costa Rican law and our MEP accreditation.
In middle and high school:
- Electives! Choose between-
- Physical education options: for the first trimester students will choose between swimming and cycling to complement their general physical education classes. Each new semester will bring fun new options to choose from!
- Additional languages: French or Classical Languages
- The Arts: choose which semester to take music or visual arts
- CREW time twice weekly- same goals as in primary and preschool grades with an added emphasis on self-management and organizational skills.
For students in 11th grade, the choices abound:
- Language Arts and/or Acquisition: Literature (Spanish), Language and Literature (English), English B or Spanish B
- Business Management
- Biology
- Math Studies
- The Arts: Music or Visual Arts
For all IB classes, students choose from within each group and, additionally, which classes they would like to take at a higher level. These classes come in addition to their Core classes: Theory of Knowledge, CAS and Extended Essay.
It is looking like it will be a fantastic 2018 school year ahead at Futuro Verde!
by Alejandro Ramírez | Aug 11, 2017
This year Futuro Verde has given many positive things to talk about in the field of sports at local, regional, interregional and national levels. We have had a very productive and successful six months. Both in team sports such as basketball and in individual sports such as swimming, chess, table tennis and cross country, the name of our institution was well represented by our athletes. Among our most important achievements, we can highlight that in cross country two of our students reached the national level, where one of them had an outstanding participation. In chess, basketball and table tennis our athletes advanced to the interregional level, only a small step away from nationals. In swimming, 13 of our swimmers classified to the national competition with all of our students in category A and B obtaining at least one bronze medal. At the secondary national level, one of our two athletes achieved the podium obtaining a bronze medal.
The competitive sport’s season of the Ministry of Public Education is over. However, this does not mean that opportunities for our students to get involved in sports have come to an end. For the rest of the year, we are planning different student and family events, including a volleyball tournament, a chess tournament, and a cross country run. There will also be opportunities to participate in a basketball academy for all ages and a swimming club.
As you can see, we expect a third trimester full of opportunities for all students. I hope to continue counting on your support and to see family members getting involved.
If you have any questions or would like to get involved in any of the upcoming events do not hesitate to contact me: alejandro@futuro-verde.org
Sincerely,
Alejandro Ramírez Urías
Athletic Director
by Futuro Verde | May 29, 2017
This beginning of the year we have been very busy training and participating in a wide variety of sports. Our school has been well represented in all the sports where our athletes have competed, with some of the sport-specific achievements from previous years continuing on as successes again this year. This year Futuro Verde had two students qualify on to nationals in cross country. In swimming, we are also having a lot of success with 14 athletes qualifying for nationals. In these two sports, we have maintained our competitive level and have demonstrated that, despite the many challenges, with work and discipline, important things can be achieved. However, these have not been all our achievements so far. For the first time in the history of Futuro Verde, and thanks to the help of Professor Oscar Leal Méndez, we have formed a chess team that has proudly and prominently represented our institution in regional and interregional events. Also, new this year, we have formed three basketball teams which are still in the training stage and will soon be ready to compete.
But we’re only halfway through the year. In the coming months we will be organizing different sports events that will offer a number of opportunities for recreation and physical activity. These include a community chess tournament, a cross-country field race and different clubs to be offered after school. Stay tuned and informed and do not miss any of these amazing opportunities.
by Futuro Verde | Feb 24, 2017
Photo by Maya Reolon
This new school year is full of opportunities for your child to represent the school in different sports and teams and I invite all students to consider participating and to try out for a competitive sports team at the school. This year we will not only continue to develop the sports teams we had last year in Cross Country, Swimming, Basketball (for 5th and 6th graders only), and Table Tennis; but we are also adding Volleyball for secondary students and Chess for all grade levels. During the weeks to come, tryouts will be held for each sport and students will be notified if they have made a team as well as provided with practice schedules and possible competition dates. We will also be notifying parents regarding the level of commitment necessary to be on a sports team for our school.
At Futuro Verde we work hard to provide opportunities, both competitive and recreational, for students to be involved and we hope as many students as possible take advantage of these opportunities!
