‘She is a superstar’: Wheaton teacher shares lessons from arboretum-led trip to Costa Rica

Silvia Alvarez-Clare paints a beautiful picture of the cloud forest in her native Costa Rica, one of the most ecologically rich habitats on the planet.

“Yet it's quiet sometimes, and it's misty and kind of mysterious. So I think it truly is a very special place,” says Alvarez-Clare, director of The Morton Arboretum’s Global Tree Conservation Program.

The arboretum gave teachers the chance to join her on a special trip to Costa Rica’s cloud forest. Educators were selected through an application process. The criteria?

“Teachers that can reach lots of students. Teachers from a diversity of backgrounds. Super motivated, amazing teachers that all were going to go have this experience and then translate that into some type of message, activity, or curriculum that they would share with their kids,” Alvarez-Clare said.

Amy Schwartz, a science teacher at Edison Middle School in Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200, fit the bill, and then some. She made the most of that fruitful 2024 trip, fully immersing herself in a forest immersion program.

Schwartz learned about sustainable farming, women-led mangrove reforestation efforts, and the deeper complexities of conservation work. She even participated in something called bat mist netting.

Quite simply, “she is a superstar,” Alvarez-Clare said.

“When I went to Costa Rica, it was just very hopeful, because I saw everybody working together,” said Schwartz, the Daily Herald's Top Teacher for December.

And mind you, this was during what was supposed to be their spring break — the operative word being “break” — from school.

“But for her to take that week and go and learn more about the world, more about sustainable science, that just speaks to her passion and her dedication for continuous learning that she then brings back and shares with her students,” Edison Middle School Principal Rachel Bednar said. “She’s just a really cool human being.”

Taking it in

Ahead of their trip, the arboretum announced some of the highlights: introductions to Costa Rica’s rare and endangered wildlife; bat mist netting and species surveys in the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve; water quality monitoring with Costa Rican educators; and forest restoration activities at the Monteverde Institute, a nonprofit educational organization.

“It’s a beautiful example down there of all these different factions of the community coming together: business and farmers, and students and the Monteverde Institute, and people who care about the land and people who have to live on the land,” Schwartz said.

The arboretum’s experts and partners have worked to protect Quercus insignis. The endangered oak species produces large acorns and grows in cloud forests, Alvarez-Clare said. Cloud forests are also very rare and act as sponges.

“So a lot of the clouds that go through the mountains then get trapped by the trees and the lichens and the moss,” she said. “And then that results in high precipitation that slowly refills all these watersheds that then give water to many of the towns and cities in the lowlands. So they are very important for people and for nature.”

The trip, supported by a grant from the Walder Foundation, reinforced their critical role for middle and high school teachers.

“Teachers were so craving learning and observing and really taking it all in, and we had a jam-packed itinerary,” Alvarez-Clare said.

The group, for instance, captured bats in mist nets to sample and measure them before their release.

“There were 12 different kinds of bats that we caught that night. It was incredible,” said Schwartz, who would later note in a faculty presentation that they’re “maligned creatures” and serve as pollinators.

“I believe that we all have an opportunity to be able to work together to make the world more sustainable,” Schwartz said of her impetus for going. “One of the things that was so amazing to see was that everybody's involved in this process. Everybody. They want the businesses to be involved, and they want schools to be involved.”

Good stewards

Schwartz has cultivated exactly that kind of community effort at Edison Middle School.

In 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized her contributions to environmental education and stewardship and, in particular, for bringing together students, faculty, parents and the Wheaton Park District for a project to turn a space behind the school into a native tallgrass prairie.

“She wants kids thinking about, ‘how are we going to be good stewards of our planet?’” Principal Bednar said.

The prairie is home to grasses and flowering beebalm, butterfly weed and compass plant. It’s been an ongoing labor of love, a way to plant some seeds in students.

“I can’t tell you how many people come back — when they're graduating, they walk through school — and they will talk about the experiences in the prairie and wanting to go into biological fields,” Schwartz said.

This, actually, is her second career. Schwartz has a background in advertising. Watching her own kids learn in District 200 — “their joy was really affecting” — inspired her to become a teacher.

“She's got a great sense of humor. She's very positive. She comes in every single day with a bright smile and a ‘good morning’ and ‘how was your weekend?’ and ‘how are you doing?’” Bednar said.

And with a demanding schedule. She’s on an instructional leadership team. She cosponsors Edison’s yoga club. Oh, and she teaches fast-paced language arts in addition to teaching her science classes.

“I had a thesis on Nabokov, which probably helped,” Schwartz said.

What also helped: her level of passion. Just like she did during that Costa Rica trip, Schwartz shows up and gives teaching her all. The student “aha” moments and relationships, she said, are “so worth it.”

“Every single day, you have a chance to affect people and the world,” she said with emotion in her voice. “I think that's really powerful.”

Tips from a top teacher

Teacher Amy Schwartz shares three tips:

1. Bring it! Teaching isn't an 8 to 3 job for me. Experience helps, but I still arrive early, stay late, and think about students beyond the walls of school. Everyday we have a chance to make a difference in the lives of students, a tremendous responsibility and a tremendous gift. I know that and try not to ever “phone it in.”

2. Say thank you. I ask a lot of my students, but I also thank them for working hard, being positive and kind, including others, laughing at my goofy antics, and showing up. On days when the news is really not great outside of school, I'm thankful that I have a chance to add positivity for my students, colleagues, and community. I practice gratitude and try not to sweat the small stuff.

3. Be real. Students know when you're being who you really are. Don't try to be older or younger than you are. Don't try to pretend that you know more than you do or that you have life all figured out. I'm in my 60s and learn something new every day — often from my kiddos.