By Marc Ingber
Published by Sun Newspapers on August 29, 2007 11:11 PM CDT

Nick Samardzija always wanted to travel to Latin America. This summer he had that opportunity - and a small community benefited from the trip as well.

Samardzija, a senior at Hopkins High School, returned from Costa Rica Aug. 14, where he had spent six weeks building a community center in the small town of Palmital.

The 17-year-old Minnetonka resident traveled to Latin America as part Amigos de las Américas (AMIGOS), an international nonprofit organization designed to build leadership skills for young people and help out communities.

Fifteen teenagers from the Twin Cities metro area traveled to Latin America this summer to perform service projects in nations such as Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua. They lived with families in the communities and worked in small teams on the projects.

In Palmital, Samardzija and a partner worked to construct a multi-purpose community center for the town of 200. They didn't finish it because of budget restrictions, but they did complete the foundation. They also built a greenhouse.

Samardzija heard about the AMIGOS program from his cousins, who participated in it a few years ago.

"I've always wanted to travel around," he said. "I thought it was a good thing to do."

Participants don't get to pick what country they go to - Samardzija was assigned to Costa Rica. He said the nation is one of the richer Latin American countries, so most people he met had houses with running water and electricity. He didn't think that would be the case.

He had taken some Spanish classes in the past, but said his language skills improved vastly spending several weeks in Costa Rica.

"You can't simulate being in a Latin American country," he said. "Learning about what life is like down there was cool."