(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Business and Finance teacher Candi Ryan at Discovery Canyon Campus decided to task her students with a real-life budget project–planning her spring break vacation.

The students were given the option of four international locations and Ms. Ryan’s budget. They then planned all aspects of the trip, from plane tickets and rental cars to lodging and activities.

Henry Hoghaug, a Junior at Discovery Canyon Campus, said, “It was really cool to learn all the steps that it takes to create a successful travel budget. It was very cool that it had a real-life aspect to it.”

The groups presented their projects as if they were travel advisors, and Ms. Ryan picked her destination to put their budget to the test.

She chose Costa Rica, where she followed their budget and activities to do.

On Wednesday, she showed the kids everything she did and talked about the challenges she went through to stay on budget. She also brought them all back, Costa Rican coffee and candies for the presentation.

Ms. Ryan said this project was a huge success in engaging the kids and being able to get them to apply the things they are learning to the real world.

“I would say this is a pretty special project because normally we like to watch videos and take notes,” Junior at Discovery Canyon Campus, Kaitlyn Chaumont, commented, “So this one was different from the other ones. “

In the future, Ms. Ryan plans to take this opportunity to travel as much as she can on breaks, just for this project.