Gap Year Programs

Hi Everyone! My name is Margaret. I am an AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) member in Class 14 at the Central Region Campus in Denver, CO. I am 20 and I am originally from Illinois. Before joining AmeriCorps I was a full-time student pursuing a Social Work degree. After three semesters, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I felt like I wanted to do something hands on. I have always been a busy person and in college I was a full-time student, actively involved in several clubs, and I was a nanny. I loved everything I was doing but I wanted to take a break from spreading myself thin and put my time and effort into one thing. I was looking to do a few months of service in the summer and then continue going to school but when I found AmeriCorps I knew it was a perfect fit for me!

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been three weeks already. It seems like yesterday when I arrived a day late and was thrown into the crazy world of Up with People. Up With People is a performing and global leadership program.

According to a news release on our Gap News feed, Carpe Diem International, education specialists offering gap year programs to U.S. students, is the first U.S. Gap Year organization working closely with U.S. State Department to help students traveling overseas in November to cast their ballots.

The news release states, "the U.S. State Department reports that, 250,000 students participated in overseas programs last year. As many as 150,000 students are expected to participate in overseas programs during the 2008 Fall school term."

To support the growing ranks of U.S. students traveling on gap years before and during college,

I read an article on our Planet Gap Year News Feed dated July 2nd about a native Irish couple living in Marco Island, Florida. They brought their passion for golf to the U.S. by opening a golf academy in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The academy offers a 9 month gap year program for students age 17-21 to train and improve their golf game, and compete at the collegiate level.

According to the article,"Islanders Open Golf Academy", by Marco Eagle Staff, Marco Island residents Peter and Helen Donaghy, formerly of County Tyrone and Dublin in Ireland, opened the Champions Golf Academy in Myrtle Beach, S.C. in April, with former PGA Tour Player Hugh Royer, III. Read more.

A June 5th article in the Pittsburgh Gazette, titled The Gap Year: More students broaden their experience of the world, by Mackenzie Carpenter, points out what I think is a very important development for the gap year movement within the U.S.: The gap year is starting to take hold with more and more students across the socioeconomic spectrum in the United States.

There was a time when taking a year out was reserved for a select group of kids from well to do families, but that isn’t the case any longer, as affordable gap year options are becoming more prevalent, and students are working to pay for their own gap years, and finding options that pay them!

Gap Year Ski Options for US Students

Over the past several weeks I have had the opportunity to do a bit of research on gap year ski options in the U.S. If you are a US student considering a year out before
college to follow your passion for skiing and traveling, and getting paid at the same time, then gaining a ski or snowboard instructors qualification with one of the following organizations may be worth consideration. Opportunities to become a professional, paid, ski or snowboard instructor with internationally recognized qualifications await you in the US or overseas!

International Ski and Snowboard Instructor Training Courses

For a number of years, Gap Year fairs have been popular in the UK, and are now catching on in the U.S. A gap year fair is actually a place where students and parents come to meet the representatives of organizations that provide productive time out options to students. Time spent at a gap year fair is an ideal way to get started on planning your own gap year, and getting a handle on what you want to do, and how much it will cost. You can meet face to face with program providers, consultants and other gap year experts.

This video was shot on location at a high school in Portland Oregon. It documents one of the first organized Gap Year Opportunities Fairs for US students, parents and educators.The gap year is becoming more widely accepted as an option before and during college for increasing numbers of US students as reported by high school counselors, proponents of the gap year, and organizations offering gap year options to students. Information on upcoming fairs around the US are available in the blog entry lower down this page titled "2008 Gap Year Opportunities Fairs in the US."

The Planet Gap Year News-USA Feed picked up an article two days ago titled RRCC students named to all Colorado academic team.

The story was about a student at Red Rocks Community College in Colorado named Kayla Jensen who was chosen as a 2008 nominee for the All-USA Academic Team, which recognizes outstanding students at two-year colleges around the country. It just so happens Kayla took a gap year before college with AmeriCorps.

A gap year is a period of time when students take a break from formal education to travel, volunteer, study, intern, or work. A gap year is also referred to as a deferred year, year out, year off, time out, time off. A gap year experience can last for several weeks, a semester, or up to a year or more. Typically a gap year is taken between high school graduation and starting college, during college, or between college and starting graduate school or a career.

Watch this video taken at the 2009 Denver Gap Year Fair: