Veritas Christian Study Abroad & Missions

Svaja Pakalniskis

Program Manager, Costa Rica

Svaja grew up speaking Lithuanian in a western suburb of Chicago. Her family's connection to its heritage allowed her to spend her childhood summers in the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, and instilled in her a passion for travel and language at an early age. She received a B.A. in Spanish and English at The Ohio State University, and studied abroad with ISA in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since then, she has devoted many months traveling through North America, Latin America, and Europe. Svaja believes that her time in Argentina was one of the most enriching, thrilling, and constructive experiences she has had and is delighted to help others embark on their own journey. In her free time, Svaja enjoys reading books, playing volleyball, attending concerts, and daydreaming of future travels.

Adriana Caravaca

Student Services Coordinator

Adriana studied Bilingual Preschool Education at the Universidad Central. She has worked as a coordinator of camps and recreational activities with youth groups from Costa Rica, the United States and Canada. This experience helped her share ties of friendship, communal work, and cultural exchange. Adriana is an active person who loves to meet new people from different cultures. She also enjoys teaching Spanish and English and has been involved as a tutor of children, youth and adults for 10 years. Thanks to her experience working with students and languages, she is very excited to be able to share and help students to adapt and learn from Costa Rican language and culture.

María Belén Jiménez

Resident Director, Costa Rica Programs

Originally from San José, Costa Rica, Belén is graduated from the National University of Costa Rica with a major in International Relations. She has worked in various human rights organizations, such as Defense for Children International - Costa Rica and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights. She also had the opportunity to intern Office of Cooperation at the Costa Rica Institute of Technology where she became passionate about student and cultural exchange programs. In 2011 she started working at ISA and because of her experiences all these years, she truly enjoys meeting and interacting with people from around the world. She likes sharing the history, traditions and food of Costa Rica and all beautiful places her home country has to offer.

Christian Vargas

Director of Latin America Operations

Estefanía Jiménez

Service Learning Coordinator

Estefanía studied Ecological Tourism at the University of Costa Rica and is completing a degree in Education. She has worked as volunteer in different national parks and in the municipality of San Ana's environmental department. She also has worked in a travel agency, which has allowed her to interact with people from different cultures and ages; this experience helped her to improve her group management skills and learn why people really enjoy visiting Costa Rica. She also worked with ISA in 2011 and experienced the joy of the students learning about Costa Rica and creating a great friendship. She loves to learn about different cultures and natural conservation practices in other countries. She also likes to read and spend time in nature with her daughter and help people who are in vulnerable situations in the country, such as the indigenous communities and children living in extreme poverty. Estefanía is very excited to help students during their stay in Costa Rica and learn about them too.