Professor’s Fulbright experience filled with challenges, rewards

Nov. 4, 2025 - DENTON - Mandy Stewart, PhD, makes a habit of helping wherever she can, even in far-flung places such as Ukraine. Stewart, a professor in the School of Education, was up to it again last summer in Costa Rica as a Fulbright Specialist.

Stewart, who specializes in literacy and language, was specifically selected by Asociación CREAR, a non-profit that provides after-school enrichment opportunities for rural children and adolescents centered on creativity, art and social responsibility in Guanacaste, a province in northwestern Costa Rica.

She developed a sustainable 48-week English curriculum based on the children's interests for the two small communities she focused on - Sámara and El Torito.

"I'm also from a rural area, born and raised, and understand the beauty of growing up in that environment but also some of the challenges," Stewart said before her trip to Costa Rica. "Since I know firsthand what it's like to grow up in a rural area, I'm excited to get back to my country roots and learn with these young people and their teachers."

The personal challenges were many. She daily rode nearly two miles by bicycle on the highway, a dirt road, and the beach to where she worked. She taught outside in grueling heat and humidity. Sudden rainstorms would often burst out, sometimes even on her bike ride. And there was no air conditioning to be found.

"Oh, and the mosquitos!" Stewart added. "There were a record number of them."

Costa Rican students and teachers face those challenges every day to learn English in a region where tourism is the leading industry, putting a premium on the ability to speak English.

Children can't always attend because their public school schedule changes daily. Sometimes, sudden thunderstorms make it difficult to even hear in their outdoor classroom under a small covering. Water and electricity can go out any time.

"However, the children and teachers, some of whom volunteer, have such a good attitude," Stewart said. "They roll with it."

That attitude is part of a way of life the Costa Ricans call pura vida - pure life.

Learning the true meaning of pura vida was one of the aspects Stewart was most excited to experience on the trip.

"I learned to be flexible and see the positive in everything. There is no perfect teaching environment. There is no perfect classroom. It's a privilege to be able to teach and learn," Stewart said. "I learned to teach your heart out to whoever you have in whatever circumstances you have. Put people first. Teaching is about people. I got back to my love of people which is why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place."

Stewart participated in the CREAR art programs to learn about each center and how to best design an English curriculum for classes with students ages 3-12 with different levels of English fluency. She also had to build it for teachers with no teaching experience to present outside with no technology or books.

Because English is so important to tourism, the U.S. Embassy asked Stewart to write a book that included her curriculum and teaching ideas for future Fulbright English Teaching Assistants and the Peace Corps. The embassy plans to share it with the Costa Rican Ministry of Education to influence public school English programs.

Stewart's favorite part of the trip was judging a high school's English Fest, which included a spelling bee and impromptu speaking events that had competitors ranging in age from 13 to 35.

"They treated me like a celebrity. Everyone wanted their picture with me," she joked. "The students are very dedicated. They attend classes at night after a long day of work or school."

One of the teenagers who competed attends classes with her mother.

"It was beautiful to see them learning together and to be able to encourage them in their studies," Stewart said.

Adding to the beauty and the fun for Stewart was her assistant for the event, her son Nathan. He served as one of the college interns for CREAR for three weeks.

Stewart raised him with English and Spanish despite the family not having Spanish as a heritage language. After attending a dual-language program in elementary school and realizing he was one of the only children who did not have a family member from a Spanish-speaking country, he asked his mother why they spoke Spanish.

"I told him we spoke Spanish so we could serve more people in this world," Stewart said. "I got to see him put that in action this summer. This experience was like a professional and personal, as a mama, highlight all in one."

Page last updated 2:44 PM, November 4, 2025