From the concrete jungle of Baton Rouge to the wilderness of Panama and back, one University student is hoping to share her experience with others.
For three months, international studies senior Carter Clark was a sous-chef for more than 40 people every day in the valley of Panama, Central America.
Clark worked for Kalu Yala Study Abroad and Entrepreneurial Internships, a company whose goal is to develop a sustainable community in Panama’s interior jungles. The program’s early admission deadline is Oct. 30.
The internship realm of Kalu Yala is its own entity but serves as a sister company to the Kalu Yala development. The interns are working on making the goals of Kalu Yala a reality.
“Kalu Yala’s aim is to attract people who are passionate about sustainability,” Clark said.
Although Clark spent her time as a chef for other Kalu Yala members and the local natives, the company offers a wide variety of internship opportunities.
“The internship with Kalu Yala is unique because, when you arrive in Panama, you have the ability to determine your own semester project,” Clark said. “This past summer, I watched someone do a complete water testing experiment, others identified trees and reptiles, while others managed a garden with over 300 species of plants, adding terraces, medicinal gardens, salsa gardens, whatever they wanted as long as it added to the community.”
Clark said many students can potentially receive school credit for their time in Panama, depending on their major and the type of project the student plans on doing.
Kalu Yala has a number of directors who work with students to make sure they are getting evaluated for their efforts.
“Kalu Yala directors have to prove they have the drive to see something they participated in succeed,” Clark said. “Some directors are choosing to live in Panama because they like the blank slate they get to work with, as opposed to having to go into a company and fix things. This is a way to build things in a completely innovative way.”
Clark emphasized that while the directors aren’t professors, they are teachers. They are older than the interns and have been interns themselves for the company and have studied in their fields.
The company boasts three different locations in Panama, including Panama City, San Miguel and a valley outside of San Miguel.
Each location is home to individual projects involving business, community health and education, agriculture, biology, outdoor recreation and forestry.
“The valley is unique because we are truly living a sustainable lifestyle, living in indigenous huts,” Clark said. “We just got running water from the tributary nearby, showering in the river, no electricity, no walls, no cell reception or Internet access. We were completely off the grid.”
Currently, a permanent building is going up so those in the valley no longer have to live in huts.
Clark said the average cost of studying abroad is around $18,000 for those traveling to Europe; however, the Kalu Yala study abroad program costs around $8,000.
While most people consider summer internships and study abroad programs to be two different things, Kalu Yala is one in the same, Clark said.
She found out about the company through her cousin and hopes to spread the word at LSU about the programs the company offers.
“The most valuable thing I learned in Panama is that anyone can be your teacher,” Clark said. “I often found that, although I was on staff, I learned things from interns everyday because they are in fields that I wasn’t knowledgeable in, and our campesino neighbors grew up in the jungle, so they knew stuff I didn’t.”
A TEDx event will be held in December in the Panama valley for people to learn and teach about practicing sustainability in different locations.

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