The 2024 World ORT Ecology Summer School has taken place in Panama. This regional summer school, which runs in Spanish, brings together ORT students from our Latin American and Spanish schools who are passionate about ecology.
Twenty-one students aged 15-17 from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Spain, and Venezuela, along with ORT teachers Ximena Grandez Breña (Peru) and Tania Amilburu (Spain) spent two weeks in the Gamboa Rainforest in Soberania National Park, working with experts from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Adopta Bosque, a non-profit NGO promoting rainforest conservation, conducting scientific ecological research.
Guido Berguido, the founder of Adopta Bosque, along with his team of experts, Chelina Batista, Ana Portugal and Ryan Oniel, worked closely with the students and guided them through their hands-on and interactive, independent research study projects. The students immersed themselves in the rainforest and gained a firsthand experience of what it would be like to be a scientific researcher, collecting and analyzing data across a range of projects.
Daniel Tysman, Head of World ORT’s Education Department, summarized the trip and said: “Although they were only together for 12 days, these ORT students were quick to connect with each other and collaborated well on their research projects. They not only improved their scientific research skills, but gave expert presentations of their analysis of the data at the end of the process.
“We present them with the richness of the rainforests and encourage them to zoom in on the details. Through this process they develop a deeper understanding of the value of these incredibly complex but ultimately endangered ecosystems and their responsibility for conservation.”
Elias, aged 15, from Colegio ORT Olami in Mexico, said: “My highlight is the research that we did in the jungle. We spent three days, three hours a day in the jungle researching the information. I want to thank ORT for making this trip possible. It’s an amazing opportunity to meet new people and to learn a lot about mammals, birds, and plants.”
Dana, aged 15, from Colegio Moral y Luces ‘Herzl-Bialik’ in Venezuela, said her highlight was “when we went to the jungle in the middle of the night searching for bats and learning more about them”.
One of the unique aspects of this experience for the students was the opportunity to build bonds and form connections with peers from different countries, learning from each other and sharing their differences and similarities.
Karen, aged 16, from ORT Colegio Estrella Toledano in Madrid, Spain, said: “I have made a lot of connections with a lot of people here, but I would mostly have to highlight that we are all so different from each other, we talk differently, we have cultures and different tastes in music and food. Going on the buses to the different excursions, we saw a lot of that difference through music… I’ve learnt a lot of that from the people here.”
During the program the students experienced Shabbat – a great opportunity to see the connections they had formed. A mixture of students from different countries came together to lead a discussion session on Friday night, analyzing Jewish texts and concepts and engaging in a heart-warming Havdalah ceremony the following evening.
Ximena, an ORT teacher from Colegio Leon Pinelo, Peru, commented: “The Jewish community is very close to each other and help each other and experience everything together. Here I have seen even though we are from different countries, all students share the same Jewish culture and feeling. When we celebrated Shabbat everyone knew what they were talking about or most of them knew the songs and prayers, and all hugged each other. It was a very special moment for me as a teacher to experience and I feel very fortunate for that.”
Towards the end of the summer school, once the students had finished collecting their research and working together in the groups to analyze the findings, the students then presented their research projects to their peers and demonstrated their skills and learning from their experience.
The research projects included analyzing leaf-cutter ants with a group comparing the differences between the leaf-cutter ants in Pipeline Road and Sandero de la Laguna, analyzing if the ants prefer to carry branches and different types of leaves, seeds, and fruits between the two places. The second group researched lichen on trees and their relationship with the ants. This group compared three different sites and analyzed the percentage of ants in these places, specifically looking at the ant nests on the trees to see if there was a difference between the position of the nests.
The third group analyzed shrubs and plants, comparing the differences in height, width, composition of leaves, organisms inside the plants and plant colors between those close to water and those further away. The fourth group researched Azteca Ants, comparing the location of their nests on the trees. They were analyzing the quantity of nests, the height of the trees, looking at the relationship between other plants and animals, the shape of the nest, the position on the tree and the light and temperature around the environment. The final group researched the interaction between monkeys and the forest. They analyzed their eating habits, the monkeys’ relationships with other animals, their behavior and monkey group dynamics.
Galiana, aged 17, also from Venezuela, said: “After we did the investigation of finding each shrub in different areas and microhabitats, we found out they have different physical characteristics that identify them in their different areas. In the moist and in the dry areas we found out that the shrubs and bushes had differences in the quantity of their leaves and the health of them. We found out that if they are near to water, they have less damage in their leaves and if they are in a drier area, they’ll have more damage in their leaves. We also could identify their difference in height, and their difference in centimeter by diameter and we could also identify their differences in lichens, in fungus and in their color.”
Along with the high-level scientific concepts that the students were able to grasp and develop during their time on the program, they were also able to immerse themselves into the Panamanian culture and experience more of the country. When the students weren’t busy in the field they were also given the opportunity to explore the country and culture and the highlights of the trip included visiting the Panama Canal, meeting with the indigenous Embera-Wounaan tribe and learning about their culture, visiting historical sites of key importance such as Fort San Lorenzo and there were trips to Punta Culebra Nature Center where they learnt about marine life.
