Generosity sustains itself in ways beyond where it’s planted.

During the 2025 Celebration of Success gala, United Airlines, a donor to CU Denver Business School’s student scholarship fundraiser, gifted $25K worth of miles as a donor prize. The airline’s gift encouraged other donors to increase their scholarship giving.

After the initial use of the gift, Jill Lohmiller, Reynold’s Program director, proposed using the gala’s remaining miles to support a First-Generation and Multicultural (FaM) program study abroad trip.

FaM Director Nimol Hen enthusiastically said yes. Lohmiller, Hen, and Mark Gasta, EdD, lead faculty for the course, began to plan a trip to Costa Rica.

Bridging Barriers

Hen began fundraising with her FaM Board of Advisors and secured the additional financial support needed for the excursion. The faculty/staff team organized BUSN 2628: Global Immersion in Business and Leadership: A FaM Experience.

The FaM program itself bridges the gap between talented, first-generation students and forward-thinking companies, addressing access barriers and promoting inclusion and innovation. Study abroad opportunities strengthen that bridge, preparing students to make positive changes locally and globally.

The week-long international immersion course, specifically designed for first-generation and multicultural students, introduced the group to global perspectives on business, leadership, and sustainability.

Connecting Sustainable Commerce and Culture

Students engaged directly with local businesses, non-governmental organizations, and communities, while also participating in service-learning and leadership-through-adventure activities.

“Concepts came to life through a coffee cooperative, an eco-lodge, tourism and adventure businesses, farms and restaurants, a wildlife rescue center, and other local organizations,” said FaM’s Program Manager Dominique Maes.

Maes strongly supports the cultural collaboration and engagement, noting how interactions in Costa Rica reshaped students’ views of themselves as travelers and future business professionals. “We encountered practices that made us question our own assumptions about tourism and sustainability, including differences in how businesses interacted with wildlife and the environment.”

Students visited businesses like Rancho Maleku, a heart of palm farm, learning how each plant sustains the next. Their time with the Maleku Indigenous community demonstrated holistic land practices that provide medicine, craft, and ceremony, as well as wildlife sanctuary animal feed.

“Again and again, I saw people accomplish remarkable things with limited resources.”

James Spinuzzi ’26

The high-touch encounter with eco-centric businesses illuminated a new way to foster what’s possible.

While touring Mi Cafecito coffee cooperative, James Spinuzzi ’26 recalled watching a community process coffee from bean to powder in open-air buildings, sharing labor, without the excess he assumed would be necessary: “Again and again, I saw people accomplish remarkable things with limited resources.”

Purpose Beyond Profit

Costa Rican business owners’ desire to make positive changes within their community and environment deeply moved Shamsiah Ebadi ’28. “Seeing the successes and challenges they were faced with showed me that when you lead with purpose, financial success can follow, but it doesn’t have to be the main motivation to keep going.”

Mark Gasta, EdD, lead faculty for the course, worked to create a tailored, syllabus-centric experience for FaM students through their third-party provider on the ground: a woman-owned Costa Rican company called Unique Adventures.

Through lessons, connections, and experiences, Gasta reinforced the cultural importance of trips like these in the lives of students, faculty, and staff alike. From riding Costa Rica’s winding roads and crossing hanging bridges to paddling through the jungle, engaging in meaningful dialogue about leadership, life, and business, and sharing communal meals, participants felt the impact of the curated study abroad trip.

Leaving Costa Rica with a stronger understanding of students’ own leadership styles, increased confidence navigating cross-cultural environments, and practical insights, they can apply a globally minded approach to their academic and career paths.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Study abroad trips hold a clear advantage, but stepping into the unknown takes courage. Spinuzzi’s advice to students interested in future FaM excursions?

“Say yes, even if you feel out of place or count yourself out. I did all of it — my first international trip, my first river float, my first time snorkeling and outrigger canoeing — and I almost let doubt keep me from participating. Stepping outside your comfort zone is where growth happens. If a program like FaM is offering you the support to go, take it. You’ll come back a more confident version of yourself.”

“You never know how much one experience can change the way you see yourself, your community, and the world.”

Jasbeth Hernandez ’26

For students and generous contributors, Jasbeth Hernandez ’26 shares that success is not only about what you accomplish individually, but also about how you help others succeed alongside you.

Whether through donations or participation, she captures the heart of generosity and trying something new: “You never know how much one experience can change the way you see yourself, your community, and the world.”

Business is better, together.

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