Prompts to Find Your Passions Before your Gap Year by GYA Admin Let me open with a question: What are you passionate about? Don’t rush on to the next sentence to find out what I’m going to say about that. Stop. Think. Give your mind and your heart a few minutes to whisper in the corner about that. What are you passionate about? Our passions are the things that drive us (or should!) They are the things that we are most interested in. The things that we feel most strongly about. The causes that we feel compelled to support. Too…
Preparing Students for a Gap Year: Pre-Departure Skill Building by GYA Admin My friend tells the story of going on a college visit to NYC with her, then, 17 year old daughter. The first night in the city her daughter and a friend announced that they wanted to take off on the subway to go to dinner and have an adventure. My friend’s instinct was to say, “What? No way! You’re country mouse girls and this is your first day in the city!” But then, she realized, that in just a few months, her daughter would be living in Manhattan,…
How to Convince Parents That Taking a Gap Year is a Good Idea by Jennifer Sutherland-Miller Sometimes, it can be hard to convince parents that taking off on a long trip instead of heading straight to college, or a job, is a good idea. Especially if they are not travelers themselves. It can be hard for them to understand why you would want to trade a “sure thing,” like continuing your education or entering the workforce, for an open ended, nebulous, gamble, like traveling. They may worry that your trip is going to make it harder for you to come…
Voices Project Video: Matthew Kenny on the moment he knew he had to go home… and why with Matthew Kenny Often, the lessons in gap year come with going. But, sometimes, the greatest lessons are in coming home. Matthew Kenny took a gap year before he applied to Harvard Graduate School of Education in Human Development. Watch as he talks about the pressing need to go, and to explore, as well as the moment he knew it was time to come home. Watch all the way to the end, because his “why” moment of realization is a breathtaking one. Share…
The Voices Project: How to Gap Year, by Emu with Emu Wondering how to gap year? THIS is how to gap year! Emu sums it up with this video. It’s definitely a “watch and share!” Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin Share on pinterest Share on reddit Share on google
The Voices Project: Ronen on Challenging Beliefs & Abilities on a Gap Year With Ronen S Ronen’s Gap Year Overview High School: Trinity School, New York City University: University of Chicago 2020 May-August: Worked as busboy at pizza and Greek food restaurant September-December: Did work for room and board in France, Italy, and Germany through Workaway January-February: Worked as delivery boy at same restaurant in New York March-August: Thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, 2189 miles from Georgia to Maine Memorable Moment I’ll never forget the breeze on my face as I biked home from the restaurant every night at 1am. I…
The Voices Project: Lindsay Foreman-Murray on the space and time to appreciate what life has to offer with Lindsay Foreman-Murray Thinking about starting this piece, I am torn between two equally representative moments from my Gap Year: the first, waking up in a hostel in Ireland, surrounded by sleeping strangers who had become my new best friends in the last 24 hours, listening to the sounds of the sheep outside the windows, the snores of the other people in my bunk room, and the happy clank of other residents making breakfast in the old stone kitchen next door. This moment…
Kai Johnson on Leadership & Transformation with Kai Johnson To Gap is to Grow. To Gap is to Transform. My first gap year experience came during my sophomore year of University. Like so many others, I had gone on to university because it was “what you do.” After a year of excessive drinking during my freshman year, I ended up with multiple drinking tickets before starting my sophmore year, and a court mandated drinking education class. I was confused, depressed, and lost. I had no idea why I was in school, no idea what I wanted to study, and no…
Voices Project: Kempie Blythe on Redefining Paradise with Kempie Blythe I remember that day vividly. I was on a road trip down the East Coast visiting a few friends who had just started college. Before I left Baltimore, I squeezed in breakfast at a local diner. In between bites of eggs and hash browns, I glanced up at the TV and assumed a “Die Hard” movie was playing, though 9am seemed a little early for the Bruce Willis franchise. I got in my car and headed south through Washington D.C. only later to find out the images I had seen…
The Voices Project: Nan on Growing Up and Overcoming Hardship on a Gap Year with Nan, gap year alum Nan’s Gap Year Overview High school: Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY University: Stanford 2020 September-December: Ballymaloe Cookery School 12-week intensive course December-January: Hung out at home January-May: ISA Spring 4 Semester in Spain at the University of Salamanca Memorable Moment Taking a road trip to a food festival in Dingle, Ireland with two of my friends from cooking school. We pulled up to the beach in the dark and slept there in the car, and when we woke up everything was…