While most students are content to spend their summer break relaxing, 13 Bermudian students are taking part in a ten-week expedition in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

The expedition is a part of the Raleigh International Bermuda programme, and comes at the end of months of preparation including three intense training camps on the Island.

Executive director Kirstin White called the programme challenging but rewarding.

"The camps show the importance of working together and pushing through physical discomfort to reach a goal — skills that will serve them well," she said. "How well they do in the camps determines whether or not they get a final space in the expedition."

The local camps had the students camping, cooking, kayaking and abseiling, along with enduring other difficult treks to prepare them for the trip.

The 13 successful participants, aged between 17 and 20, left the Island on June 2 and won't be returning until September. Once there, they were joined by other students representing Canada, Chile, China, France and Great Britain, with over 100 students participating overall. For the expedition, the students were separated into seven separate groups

"The Bermudians are not all together, but rather are one or two to a group, thus encouraging them to connect with others, " said Ms White.

After being trained to build hammocks, setting up a group tarp, digging makeshift toilets and learning how to run a Casualty Evacuation if there is a problem, they were sent out to various three-week projects.

The projects include everything from building a kindergarten for children in Nicaragua's Miraflor Reserve, providing the village of Achuapa with running water, updating trails in Playa Junquillal National Park, and improving visitor access to Monumento Nacional Guayabo, a 1,000-year-old archaeological site in Costa Rica.

There will also be an arduous 19-day trek from the shores of the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Coast.

"It can be quite an overwhelming experience with all these new people, being split up and adjusting to the primitive nature of the camp sites," Ms White said. "Four of the participants will be trekking first — a very physical phase, so they are anxious about this too."

The programme, which aims to push students out of their comfort zone and show them what they are capable of, is largely funded by local and international businesses along with the Government, but participants are also responsible for some fund-raising efforts.

"We have a really good group of participants this year," said Ms White. "Raleigh is excited by the potential we see in this team.

"It's almost miraculous to see how they leave as boys and girls, and come back as men and women, ready to be positive members of our community."