But taking a gap year is not an extended vacation or study abroad. A gap year provides students with the opportunity to learn in a completely different way.
Instead of simply reading about other cultures and places in books, students in a gap year program learn by experiencing those cultures and places directly. Language, networking, and a new global perspective—and these are just a few of the benefits that taking a gap year can bring. Learn more about Global Citizen Year and the many benefits of taking a gap year that are available to you.
Washington Post: www. Wired: www. A gap year can provide real life experience through travel and volunteering, as well as helping you to learn leadership skills, new languages and culture, and maybe even college credit. While the decision is ultimately up to you, taking a gap year can be beneficial to just about anyone. Gap years first became common in the s, as a means for countries to exchange cultural ideals.
Gap years allow newly-graduated high school students to expand their educational experience outside of a classroom setting, before starting college.
Gap years have long been popular in Europe, but have been gaining traction in the United States of America, and are now more popular than ever. For interested students, sign up here to learn more about our programs! For educators, visit our educator form to request more information. Something went wrong with your sumbission. Please try again! I turned around to the open arms of my host family yes, all 23 of them! The family farm is a little slice of heaven….
The Fellows mature into intelligent, compassionate, cosmopolitan citizens of the world, able to converse about global issues…. I wanted the world to slap me silly, sweep me up like a tornado and crash me down. I needed to live. The world does not need us to save it; it needs us to understand it.
Perhaps to help is not to give after all, but rather to empower…. Financial aid options are critical in order for gap years to not become the exclusive domain of those who can afford to take them. In addition to personal fulfillment and skill-building, gap years could also help address a serious problem in American education: mental health.
Students under a panoply of pressures, including studies, work, loans, and relationships, often find themselves unable to cope. In the worst cases, students turn to drugs or other addictions as a way of coping. This is where gap years can work as a productive, creative time-out from sources of stress, helping equip students to go to college in the right frame of mind—and with greater capacity to handle emotional and academic stress.
Research…shows that gap years promote qualities such as resilience, tenacity, and grit. One way for students to challenge themselves with new perspectives is through service, both nationally and internationally, but also right near home. A COVID gap year means you'll most likely stay at or close to home during this time, so consider opportunities you can take advantage of online, such as remote jobs and internships.
No matter how you structure it, you want to make sure you are learning and growing and not just sitting around idle. For more guidance on planning your gap year, consult the gap-year planning guide provided by the Gap Year Association GYA.
Gap years are intended to be highly personalized, and your ideal experience might look very different from someone else's. While you can segment your year to include different activities at different stages, every stage should emphasize growth and self-discovery. Whether you choose to travel, gain experience in a field of study, or volunteer, you should ask what you are trying to learn from the experience. The most common activities pursued during gap years include working in either an internship or paid position , volunteering, traveling, or developing a skill.
If you would prefer to work with a program, it's important to know the wide range of programs at your disposal. The GYA provides a list of more than 20 accredited programs on its website, which includes programs on wilderness education, community service, cultural immersion and language learning, and much more.
Programs on this list can last between three months and a full academic year. AmeriCorps — which is gaining traction among recent high school graduates — also offers students service-oriented programs that involve traveling to communities across the United States and completing team-based projects to tackle problems like poverty and unemployment. Additionally, there are many dynamic gap-year programs not listed above that might be better suited to your interests.
Popular programs include Seamester , in which participants travel by boat for three months and learn to scuba dive and sail while also stopping in multiple countries along their route.
Projects Abroad offers numerous service and educational opportunities in countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Winterline Global Education provides a nine-month, country gap-year program that features developmental education in more than skills. Some COVID gap-year ideas include taking free online courses, participating in virtual field trips, and studying a foreign language. The clarity earned by taking a gap year can have measurable effects on a student's performance in college.
Students who have done gap years are more likely to graduate in four years or less compared to the national average of six years. The time spent reflecting and learning about potential interests can help students make a more informed decision when picking their major and connect better with their selected field. A gap year can be used to develop any number of important life skills.
This could mean learning a language while living in another country, acquiring communication and leadership skills while working on a service project, or gaining hands-on experience through an internship or job. Your gap year can be a great opportunity to develop a skill, while free from other obligations, so pick something you feel a connection with. Traveling and living abroad for your gap year can be a transformative experience.
Immersing yourself in a new culture, learning a foreign language, and seeing the world from a different perspective can lead to important discoveries about your passions and purpose.
A productive gap year is a great time to engage in resume-building activities. Learning a skill, gaining work experience in your intended field, studying a second language, or spending months immersed learning about a specific topic or country can all help your resume stand out.
A year spent volunteering or interning can also build skills that will impress potential employers. An unstructured gap year can open the door to wasting time and losing academic momentum.
0コメント