Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/641736
At the Sea Turtle Conservancy in Tortuguero, Costa Rica, Winterline students such as Grafton native Molly Shunney ( right) learned about marine life and ecology. The Rocky Mountains, from Colorado to Wyoming's Wind River Range ( shown here), set the setting for "orientation," where students build camaraderie before going overseas. "i am experiencing things and seeing places i never could have dreamed of." —molly shunney whose inaugural "class" of 16 students (from the US, Mexico, Nepal, India, Colombia, and Canada) completes the program's first year this May. "Winterline hopes to fill a gap in these areas that are poorly addressed in their university curriculum." Molly Shunney, a Grafton native in the inaugural class, might agree. She certainly didn't learn bungee jumping or dairy farming at the University of Massachusetts. But she did in Costa Rica. "This program is changing my life," she says. "I am experiencing things and seeing places that I never could have dreamed of." For Singh, that's the point. "It seemed to me that young people were sorely lacking in basic life skills, resilience, and awareness of the world, well into young adult- hood," he says. "It also seemed that it was possible to teach many of these capabilities in a focused way at this very formative time of life." Shunney hopes to land a job in sports management after Winterline. Though, whatever she pursues, she credits Winterline for instilling the right attitude. "I have learned how to live in the moment. I have a sense of peace," she says. "It's a big world out there." winterline.com . bostoncommon-magazine.com 53