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Engineering For A Higher Purpose

Three students pose on a raised platform by a railing, smiling in casual streetwear under a bright blue sky; the scene feels upbeat and relaxed. — Project foreman Eliel Sanchez, Brandon Marzan ’28, and Philip Storti ’28 on site at Proyecto Bethany, Tres Ríos, Cartago.

Sep 25, 2026 By Kiersten Bjork ’21

A service-immersion trip to Costa rica challenged Fairfield students to use their engineering skills to build, solve problems, and make a lasting impact.

Gray-blue church with a tall steeple and cross stands behind a metal fence, under an overcast sky; the quiet rural scene feels calm and modest. — The church that engineering students and Dr. Estrada helped build.

Handmade wooden mugs, local coffee beans, chocolates— these were the physical mementos of a week of service, growth, and community, tucked into the suitcases of Fairfield undergraduates returning home from a life-changing Spring Break experience.

Ten mechanical, biomedical, and electrical engineering students from Fairfield’s School of Engineering and Computing journeyed to San José, Costa Rica, on a service-immersion trip. Among them was Caroline Gardner ’28, a biomedical engineering major with a minor in humanitarian action. As president of Fairfield’s Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Club, Gardner had been looking for an experience that would lean into cultural immersion, build on the momentum of the growing EWB Club, and provide a way for engineers at Fairfield to give back.

“I think it is especially important for engineers at Fairfield to have the opportunity to apply some of our skills through service, particularly with our Jesuit mission,” Gardner said.

The group of excited, albeit nervous, engineers departed for Costa Rica knowing that they would be volunteering on a construction site—they’d specifically chosen the trip and destination because it offered hands-on engineering project work—but they had no idea the actual tasks or scope of work they might be assigned. Although a few had experience with basic construction, most were simply ready to get their hands dirty and to help others.

The days began around 6:30 a.m. in the home of the host family where students stayed. The mother of the family prepared a traditional Costa Rican breakfast each morning, usually rice, a protein, fruit, coffee, and juice, before the group boarded a bus to the worksite.

Volunteering alongside local staff, students contributed to construction projects on the campus of Proyecto Bethany, an organization that provides housing, childcare, and community resources to single mothers pursuing an education. They helped install drainage systems, painted church siding, carried roofing materials, and completed a concrete wall that had remained unfinished for two years.

Three students lift a long gray concrete wall panel at a construction site, working together with focused expressions in an outdoor setting.

Philip Storti ’28, Alexander White ’25, MS’26, and Patrick Breeden ’27 move building materials on site at Proyecto Bethany.

A bright blue railing frames green fields, scattered trees, and small rural houses, with distant hills beneath a cloudy sky, creating a calm, open scene.

View of the historic hospital Sanatorio Durán, in Potrero Cerrado.

A smiling group of students stand outdoors with shovels, surrounded by trees and greenery, ready for a community gardening project.

L-R: (front) Caroline Gardner ’28, Evelyn Faber ’28, Chloe Vouvakis ’28, Dr. Estrada; (middle) Alexander White ’25, MS’26, Philip Storti ’28, Armando Hernandez ’29, Isabella Dawes ’27, Brandon Marzan ’28; (back) Patrick Breeden ’27, and Maeve McGlynn ’28 pose for a group photo.

Ana Estrada, PhD, assistant professor of electrical and biomedical engineering, joined the trip as a faculty mentor. Dr. Estrada grew up in Costa Rica and was a natural fit to lead students from both an engineering standpoint and as a guide through local culture and language.

“There is a very small team of permanent workers employed with the Proyecto Bethany organization, so a lot of the construction has to be volunteer-based,” said Dr. Estrada. The partially built concrete wall around the perimeter of the property had, for years, stood as a reminder of the limited volunteer labor available to finish it. “One of the most meaningful things we experienced there,” she said, “was being able to help them complete that project.”

Students were eager to put their engineering skills to the test when tasked with the challenge of lifting heavy construction materials to the top of the wall. Working with only the resources on hand, they devised a mechanism that allowed them to leverage the pieces back and forth until they reached their destination. In the process, they avoided having to lift the full weight of each piece.

“The students just wanted to keep working and keep helping—I actually had to force them to take breaks,” Dr. Estrada recalled. “They were so motivated to get this work done, especially as they were seeing the direct impact of what they were doing on the surrounding people and community.”

Gardner witnessed that same enthusiasm throughout the trip. One of her biggest takeaways, she said, was how eager students were to return to the worksite each morning. “There are a lot of crises going on in the world, and there’s a feeling—especially among my peers in humanitarian action—of hopelessness or helplessness that’s got a lot of people down,” she said. “Yet, when students were given the chance to help others, to push themselves to exhaustion for somebody else’s sake, they jumped on that opportunity. They were happy to do so, days on end. That was my biggest inspiration, that everyone was so willing to put up with something that wasn’t comfortable, in order to help somebody else.”

Their Costa Rican immersion wasn’t all work and no play. While there, students sampled local cuisine, shopped in San José’s city market, and explored cultural and natural landmarks, including Irazú Volcano, where many saw volcanic black sand for the first time, and the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles (Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels), one of Costa Rica’s most important pilgrimage sites.

Three students use long-handled tools to clear dirt beside a dark red barn, working together outdoors in a calm, purposeful scene. — Evelyn Faber ’28 and Chloe Vouvakis ’28 break ground at Proyecto Bethany.

“Everyone was very kind,” Gardner said. “The people and country are very welcoming. From the tour guide who showed us around the crater of the volcano to the site teams and host family, they were so happy to have us there and to share their home with us.”

For these future engineers, the immersive, hands-on trip reinforced the connection between engineering and service, inspiring them to seek out new ways to make a difference, both abroad and at home.

“What made me really proud to see was how motivated the students were to help,” said Dr. Estrada. “As the trip went on, they started to take ownership of their work, knowing that they were making a real impact, and I think that gave them a lot of purpose. At the end, we had a debrief and they were more motivated about everything, from engineering to just wanting to get more involved.”

That, noted School of Engineering and Computing Dean Andres Leonardo Carrano, PhD, is exactly what Fairfield’s engineering programs strive to cultivate. “The EWB Club perfectly embodies our Jesuit principles of accompaniment, service to others, and the promotion of social justice,” he said. “Led by Dr. Estrada, these talented students exemplified and lived our school maxim of ‘Engineering for a Higher Purpose.’”

Gardner and her fellow EWB Club members are already looking into trips for next year, as they actively seek connections with other EWB clubs across the country. “This trip really changed my perspective of what it’s like to help in a community, in a neighborhood,” she said. “Proyecto Bethany enlarged our understanding of how fulfilling it is to contribute in some small way. Each of us walked away with a renewed hunger to keep doing this work, and to bring it back to campus.”