A collaborative team from Texas A&M University-Kingsville, University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, Florida International University, and University of Texas at El Paso developed USDA-funded, international experiences for undergraduate students in agricultural and environmental sciences. Major project goals included encouragement of first-generation college students to pursue graduate degrees in agriculture. This international experience is research-centered and provides unique workshops that are designed to promote scientific interest. Specific research interests were fostered while undergraduate students worked directly with faculty mentors and students from other collaborating universities. Six unique, 10- to 14-day, occupational-intensive Soil, Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences workshops were planned and completed since 2017. Each collaborating institution selected own participants (n=4-5) for each International Workshop, based upon self-established criterium that fulfilled project objectives. These studies abroad provided undergraduates (n=85) with life-changing experiences of international travel, sustainable tropical agricultural practices, and basic scientific training through applied research-focused workshops. All students received training in the scientific method, proper research sampling, soil sampling, water sampling, forage sampling, and food-animal livestock production. In Costa Rica, students visited a world-class agricultural university (Earth University), tropical agriculture production systems (banana, cacao, cassava, coffee, pineapple), exotic wood forestry, several organic farms, ornamental horticulture farms, dairy and beef farms, and rural and commercial agriculture businesses. The Texas A&M University Soltis Center for Research and Education is the important and major component to a successful agricultural-based educational experience in Costa Rica. The Soltis Center is a tropical, mid-elevation rain forest, biological field station owned and operated by Texas A&M University. The Soltis Center provides economical accommodations, classroom and laboratory space, and planning of location visits within Costa Rica.  The Texas A&M Soltis Center is available to all college and university programs that have an interest in broadening student education by experiencing a unique agricultural and natural resource international location.