A raffle will take place on Feb. 16 to support the Minnesota North College Vermilion students enrolled in instructor Beth Hupila’s International Studies course, who will travel to Costa Rica this March as part of a firstof- its-kind trip.
Hupila hopes to sell 325 tickets at $20 per piece. The first prize is valued at $1,000, while second place and third place will win $500 and $250, respectively.
All funds will channel toward student travel expenses. Hupila aims to fundraise as much of “the cost of the trip as possible” for the seven students traveling abroad, many of whom have never flown before.
“They’re all going to pay for the humanities class. But the trip is extra, a lot extra, and so we want to make sure we provide this opportunity for them, because nowadays it’s so expensive to travel,” Hupila said.
Alongside the raffle, Hupila and her students have sought out and received external donations. They also plan to host a trivia night fundraiser at the Boathouse on February 12 and a February 20 meat raffle at Zaverl’s Bar.
“This is the initial rejuvenation of giving students other kinds of experiences, other than just sitting in a classroom and reading and writing,” Hupila said, “This is going to give them an all-around intercultural experience.”
“They’re going to remember Ely, that we’ve done this kind of trip,” Hupila said.
Vermilion offers study abroad programs — including programs in Denmark and Croatia, Ljubljana and Venice for spring 2026 — and has offered other international trips in the past. However, Beth says the Costa Rica trip represents a unique opportunity since she joined Vermilion as an instructor four years ago.
While abroad, the class will visit the Monteverde Cloud Forest, convene with students from a Costa Rican college, volunteer at a monkey sanctuary and experience zip lining and rock climbing, among other activities.
Hupila believes trips like these may increase Vermilion’s appeal to both current and future students, improving the college’s retention rate while also boosting its recruitment efforts.
“Being a small college, we really want to do the best for our students that are here and we want our college to be unique so we can draw more students in and also retain those students,” Hupila said.
Ta’Jon Childs, a member of Vermilion’s varsity football roster, will join Hupila’s trip this March. He credits the college’s slate of unique offerings as a major factor in his decision to attend.
“The outdoors spoke to me a lot. There’s a lot of outdoor stuff, like dogsledding, snowshoeing, just going on trails,” Childs said, “That’s what me and my teammates and a lot of us do for fun out here.”
Childs considers his time at college an opportunity to gain new experiences beyond his hometown of Apple Valley, Minnesota.
“I’ve been there most of my life. I want to get out and explore,” Childs said. He is “feeling super excited” about visiting Costa Rica.
“Any time we can offer alternative learning is just a bonus,” Hupila said, “And so I think just by having a raffle, it’s drawing attention to what students are doing up here that might be out of the ordinary.”
Those interested in purchasing tickets may donate via the Vermilion Campus Foundation Venmo page. Donations for any type of credit card are available on a Neon CRM webpage.
Hupila also encourages donors to reach out to her via email, phone or Facebook if they are interested in receiving a raffle ticket.
For donation information: account.venmo.com/u/ VermilionCampusFoundation vcc.app.neoncrm.com/ campaigns/costa-rica-student- trip
