EARTH University: Escuela de Agriculture de la Region Tropical Humeda
In August 2009, Earth University President Jose Zaglul spoke to the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment in Chicago. His report on the 19-year old Costa Rican university turned out to be one of the most uplifting, and entertaining, talks of the college presidents’ two-day conference. Dr. Zaglul spoke with pride about Earth University’s graduates from 25 different countries who have been educated as “global citizens.”
In 1990 EARTH University opened its doors on an 8000-acre campus in the Atlantic lowlands, the middle of the rainforest. EARTH U fulfilled a dream for Dr. Jose A. Zaglul, the original president, along with other visionary Costa Rican leaders from government and the private sector. EARTH’s mission is to educate young Latin Americans about sustainable agriculture. (EARTH is an acronym for Spanish meaning an agricultural school in the humid tropics.)
Dr. Zaglul told his fellow university presidents that EARTH was the founders’ response to the political violence taking over Central America in the mid-1980s, particularly in Nicaragua and Panama. “We wanted to send our young people to school, not to war,” Zaglul said.
“We wanted to prepare leaders for a prosperous and just society in Central American where people could live in peace,” EARTH’s president said, adding that Costa Rica has not had an army since 1948. At the same time the wars were was going on, one million acres of Costa Rican rain forest was being stripped every year for lumber. The progressive-thinking founders created Earth University as the best way to stop both the political chaos and environmental destruction
While Dr. Zaglul’s parents were Lebanese and Costa Rican, Costa Rica is his home. A graduate of the American University of Beirut with a PhD from the University of Florida, Jose Zaglul has devoted his professional life to producing ethical leaders from Central and South America who will contribute to sustainable development in the tropics.
Along with teaching sustainable farming practices, Earth University also promotes ethical entrepreneurship among Central America’s young people. Every student must form a business that EU lends them start-up money for. “Seventy percent of them make money or break even,” Dr. Zaglul said. Since 1993 when the first EU class graduated, over 20% of the alums have gone on to start their own businesses.
Even more significant to the founders of EU is that 80% of their graduates have returned to their home communities and are teaching sustainable agriculture to their fellow farmers.
Peter Wege began his involvement with EARTH in June 1991 when he joined Dr. Russell Mawby from the Kellogg Foundation for a special tour of EARTH University. Victor Sanchez, EARTH University Foundation, recalled that when Wege met the enthusiastic President Jose A. Zaglul and saw what was happening at EARTH University he “got very excited.”
Wege acted on his enthusiasm. With half of EARTH University’s students too poor to pay tuition, The Wege Foundation began funding scholarships in 1991 and never stopped. When awarding the Wege scholarships, Sanchez explained, “We tell the students, ‘This scholarship is not for you; it’s for the community you come from.’”
And it’s both young women and men who return to educate the community they came from. While first EARTH class was 13% women, by 2005 the freshman class was 42% female. The reason for the triple increase, Victor Sanchez explained, was that the first women graduates went home and recruited other females to apply to EARTH University.
Return to the list of news articles... |
