Ben Casnocha's Gap Year Travel Blog
Ben Casnocha is a freshman at Claremont McKenna College in southern California. He created an incredible gap year travel blog documenting his experiences during his around the world adventure in 2006-2007.
Ben is astonishingly accomplished for his tender 19 years, and his own gap year is only a small part of his story, though I think, a very, very important one! In my humble estimation, Ben's Gap Year Travel Adventures blog has helped to raise awareness of the Gap Year concept in the US where it is needed most! Remember, the gap year in the US is taking hold but still far less popular than in the UK.
Just Google the term 'gap year', and Ben's Gap Year Travel Adventures blog is listed on the first page of the search results! Voila! Of course, it is sandwiched between the well established British based organizations that dominate the multi-billion pound gap year industry, and operate sites that receive huge volume web traffic. Seeing Ben's site in the search results reminds me that educating and informing US students, parents and advisers about the concept and benefits of a gap year starts with student on-line journalism. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Ben's most important achievements! He is Founder and CEO of a successful silicon valley e-government software company called Comcate, and has recently authored a book My Start-Up Life about his entrepreneurial pursuits. He is also a freelance writer, and a consultant/speaker at top colleges and universities in the U.S. Ben's description under his 'Personal' section reads 'I like to think deeply about things, especially about business, journalism and media, politics, international relations, and technology. I like spending time with people who are smart, provocative, funny, and subscribe to the mantra of 'think different'. Ben's grasp on a variety of subjects can be sampled by reviewing his bookmarks (over 3500!) and particularly the ones tagged for gap year at http://del.icio.us/bencasnocha/gapyear. Ben's passion about his own gap year experience,and his intensely thoughtful writing, without a doubt, motivates and inspires students reading his work, or listening to him speak, to re-evaluate their own education and career goals and aspirations.You can read Ben's Gap Year Travel blog at http://bigben.blogs.com/gapyear_travels/.
