The Voices Project: Ronen on Challenging Beliefs & Abilities on a Gap Year

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 would be so thoroughly exhausted, but I was proud of my hard work–and usually about $100 richer. I was another weary worker, coming home after a long shift.

Do You Regret Taking a Gap Year?

Not in the slightest. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.

I wanted to hike the Appalachian trail, and I wanted to do it before life got in the way. Since it takes 5-6 months to do, I needed more than just a summer to do it, so I figured I’d fit it in during a Gap Year. I also guessed (correctly) that a year of doing real, non-academic things, out of the sheltering constraints of a school or program, would force me to become more responsible, more stream-lined in my thinking, and ultimately prepare me better to use college as a tool.

What do You Wish You Knew Going In?

I wish I better understood the importance for my happiness of being with others my age. I’ve spent a lot of time more or less alone so far, which has certainly helped me grow, but has been less fun than perhaps it could be.

Biggest Realization

My biggest realization would probably be that my political views–and honestly, I think, most people’s–are hardly shaped at all by my rational assessment of the facts.

I read a book called “The Righteous Mind” that expressed this idea, but I’d also been thinking about it on and off in the ample time my gap year has given me to simply contemplate myself and the world. It’s been kind of a wake-up call: everything that used to trigger some knee-jerk liberal response in me now makes me wonder why it did, and what I should really feel.

Biggest Surprise

I was surprised by how unprepared I was to do anything practical with my hands. Working in the restaurant and at the farms in Europe, I found I was so not used to doing any work that wasn’t academic that I was pathetically inept at what I was supposed to be doing. Of course, I learned the best I could, but it was a clear reminder that there are different kinds of educations in the world, different kinds of “smart,” of skills.

Biggest Anxieties

My anxieties were mostly rooted in somehow displeasing the people I was working for. I’d now say that the best way to please them is actually by approaching their assigned task calmly, so you can focus and do it well.

Last thoughts?

I am a strong proponent (not to denigrate anyone else’s experience) of doing an independent gap year–not in a program. Figuring things out by myself was one of the most valuable parts of the experience.