The Gap Year Site

            To tell the truth, my initial reason for taking a gap year was that I was burned out.   After four years of a stressful high school, I wasn’t excited about going straight to college.  Now, after a year of fascinating experiences and adventures, I have realized just how glad I am I decided to defer from college for a year.

I got a chance to do things I might never have had time for. I was in my senior year of high school when the Tsunami hit, and I wished I could go do volunteer disaster relief, instead of sit in class.  During the fall of my gap year I volunteered as the English program coordinator for North Andaman Tsunami Relief.  It was really interesting to get to be part of disaster relief organization and also learn more about international development (careers I am considering.)  When I was floating down a gorgeous Thai river in an inter-tube (and many other moments during my year) I thought to my self, “I could be in class right now, or even taking a test--I’m so glad I’m here!” 

In the spring I lived in Xela, Guatemala and took Spanish classes while I volunteered as an English teacher in a public girls’ school.  While attempting to teach 55 fourth grade girls English was often a frustrating experience, I learned to appreciate my teachers.  I then went to Cuba, a place I had always been interested in traveling to, for a month to work on an oral history project about the impressive literacy campaign of 1961. (In one year volunteer teachers decreased the illiteracy rate from 20% to 3.9%!)