Ethical Engagement with Animals on Gap Year Experiences by Nora Livingstone, Animal Experience International (AEI) If your program connects with community-based organizations that work with animals, and you want to follow best practices and avoid common pitfalls to students volunteering with animals, please read on for some valuable resources. If you’re a potential gap year student interested in volunteering with animals and interested in ethical best practices for doing so, we hope that this blog will be a useful resource for you as well. While planning to work with animals, consider their wellbeing using the following framework. There are 5…
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What Does Responsible International Volunteering Look Like? by Annie Wendel Record numbers of students are choosing to study, travel, and serve abroad through Gap Year organizations, alternative break programs, and tour agencies. Voluntourism, volunteering and traveling at the same time, has become a popular rite of passage for high school and college-aged students. As a former study abroad participant and international volunteer, I can vouch for the personal, professional, and academic benefits of these intercultural immersion and exchange programs. These programs supplement classroom lessons through experiential learning opportunities and build student global awareness. My personal experiences have also made me…
On Raising the Bar for Service Learning An interview with Willy Oppenheim, Founder of Omprakash One of the presentations I attended at the GYA Annual Conference in Boston was on Service Learning, presented by Willy Oppenheim of Omprakash. His reputation as a powerhouse presenter, a passionate humanitarian and an adventurer extraordinaire preceded him. I was not disappointed. I walked away from his presentation inspired and grateful that someone was standing up to say the hard things and encourage the community towards a higher standard across the board. Service learning is a sticky subject in the gap year world and there…