For. Eng. Augustina Addai Augustina received a fellowship from the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). "The course is good, it is up to date; I even think that in the future it must be raised to a diploma level..." "I also think it is well organized because we have traveled within all the ecological zones of Costa Rica; it was not centralized only in San José..." 
Dr. Keith Shawe kgshawe@yahoo.co.uk Keith has a M.Sc. and a Ph.D degree in Plant Taxonomy and took the course in 1996. He said: "...The advantage that I had, having done an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in plant taxonomy, which is most laboratory based, was that I was already familiar with most of the botanical terms, but most students caught up with those in the first week. So my big disadvantage was lack of field knowledge; everyone else started at the same position, and they are also here because they do not have field knowledge; so I do not think that having qualifications on plant taxonomy necessarily puts me ahead of the others, at all. So I think the course really is a general course for everyone from all backgrounds, whether or not you have a good technical background". "Accommodations have been excellent; more than I expected, I must say. Costa Rica is a very developed country anyway, so the accommodation reflected the needs of the tourist who flock here in large numbers, we also had a fairly well organized daily structure, traveling, lunch, etc. The group as a whole tended in the first week of field work particularly to come together in the evening and discuss what we collected during the day and what the characteristics were; that helped enormously. We went from wet forest to dry forest and in between, and we sorted samples in each case that were specific to those habitats, or found elsewhere; there were a lot of exceptions even in the early days, exceptions to the rule, particular families, that was the only confusing thing for some people; .... but that is a minor criticism...".
Lic. Alicia Mena
Marmolejo Alicia received a fellowship from the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). She said: " ...la gente que trabaja en el herbario debe tener un conocimiento general sobre como identificar plantas básicamente y este curso de dendrología tropical nos enseña eso, de una manera muy práctica y en corto tiempo... ". " ...creo que lo he aprovechado muy bien el curso, porque antes de venir acá no conocía este método tan fácil como es el que tiene el CCT".
Mr. Hector Mai Hector works for the Forestry Department in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Belize. He declares: "....Dr. Keith Shawe, presently working in Belize, had already participated as a student in this course and he gave me encouragement for the course. I had a little previous training in botany. From an early age ... I knew the look and the common names but not scientific names or families".
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