Voices Project: Jordan Ricker on Gap Year as the First Step with Jordan Ricker Jordan Ricker grew up in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington DC, and never considered a gap year. College was the expected path and a good state school seemed to be the obvious choice. It was his grandfather who first opened his eyes to the possibility of going further afield for university, encouraging him to come to California and tour several schools. After his college tour with his grandfather, Jordan began to think a little outside the box and applied to a number of schools, both in…
Voices Project
Voices Project Video: Alison Sever on the Big Questions & Gap Year with Alison Sever Alison is a gap year alumna (’09) and served as chair of the GYA Alumni Committee until 2019. She has mentored dozens of gap students on diverse gap experiences all over the world. Alison’s facilitation style is largely influenced by her background in outdoor education and her training in contemplative practices including yoga instruction (RYT-200, Yoga Alliance) and the Buddhism-inspired eco-philosophy The Work That Reconnects. Most recently she is growing her edge as a gardener, herbalist, and fermenter as means of revitalizing the human-Earth relationship….
GapYearly: Necessity is the Mother of Invention Sasha Landauer and Jiyoung Jeong SASHA:It was noon on a Tuesday in February. I wasn’t in my second hour of an organic chemistry lab. Nor was I napping after a particularly gruesome history midterm. I was whooping while throwing a 100lb tree down a hillside near Mount Everest. To my right was a ten-year-old monk sliding down the mountain on a wooden plank, holding a teapot on his head and an axe in his hand. We were on our way to rebuild Pema Choling Monastery’s Buddha statue, which had been destroyed in the…
Voices Project: Michelle Zhang on the Life Changing Power of Gap Year with Michelle Zhang Meet Michelle Zhang, a Travel Access Project 2017 Grant recipient. She’s currently on her Gap Year and recorded this for us on a slow boat chugging up the Amazon River in Peru. How cool is that? She’s not even done with her Gap Year but she’s quite sure it has changed the course of her life. Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin Share on pinterest Share on reddit Share on google
Voices Project: Acceptance, Flexibility, and the Lessons of a Gap Year with Cecilia Polanco I could write a book on my gap year, what it meant to me, and what I have learned and applied since then; in fact I plan to because I learned on my gap year that writing is a way I can preserve for myself and share with others at the same time. My gap year taught me a few major lessons: Accepting Things Out of my Control In planning my gap year, I struggled to find opportunities in Italy, where communication with folks via email…
Voices Project: Kevin Hermann on connecting with being alive with Kevin Hermann When I first met Kevin he appeared as a volunteer at the Gap Year Association annual conference in Boston. From the first moment I was impressed by his peaceful center, joyful effervescence, and deeply compassionate way of walking through the world and interacting with other humans. As the mother of four teenagers, at the time, one of whom was preparing for a Gap Year and another who had recently finished her first major trip abroad, he gave me hope. In him I saw a reflection of everything I…
Voices Project: Teresa Hermann on the benefit of Gap Year and emotional support for parents with Teresa Hermann Sometimes, letting go can be hard! Teresa Hermann talks about the ways in which a Gap Year benefited her son Kevin, who graduated in 2009. With the benefit of almost ten years of perspective on the long term benefits she’s observed in his life, Teresa provides encouragement for parents who might be nervous about sending their children out to travel instead of go straight to college. Even kids who do all the right things, succeed in high school, and are accepted to…
Voices Project: Michelle Zhang on the Secret of Life & Happiness with Michelle Zhang When my parents were still skeptical about the idea of a gap year, they would ask me, “What do you want to gain from it?” I told them I wanted to learn from real life what a classroom couldn’t teach me. They asked, “What are you going to learn?” I couldn’t answer. You don’t know what the world will teach you until you go see for yourself. It’s different for everyone. The universe has a way of revealing to us the lessons and wisdom we personally…
The Voices Project: Parents on the Benefits of a Gap Year with gap year parents The Gap Year Association is excited to unveil the first in a series of written pieces and videos that we’re calling “The Voices Project.” The goal of this project is to amplify the voices of people impacted by Gap Years. The impact of a Gap Year reaches far beyond the student. In this piece, parents share their thoughts on the Gap Year experience of their students. If you’re a parent who’s been wondering whether the investment in a Gap Year would be “worth it” for…
Interview With a Gap Year Student with Kai Millici WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU? WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS YEAR? I am living in a small town called Imbaya in a northern region of Ecuador. My program, Global Citizen Year, placed me with a host family where I have a mom, dad, a brother and a sister who are all really involved in the community. I live with them and work in the afternoons with my mom at the Caja de Ahorro y Credito, which is a small credit union for the town. Right now the members are…