Gap Year Question From Wisconsin Student

The following question was emailed to Planet Gap Year last week from a student named Ryan in Wisconsin. With his permission, we are posting his email to show our readers an example of the increasing interest shown by American students to choose volunteer service in the US for a gap year. My answer to his question is at the bottom of the page.

I have a question about taking a gap year. Right now I am a college freshman at a university located in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I was looking at different options on your website for a gap year and one really caught my eye. It was the Habitat for Humanity-Americorps one.

Ever since I was younger I had always loved to build things and also was fascinated with how things were built. As of right now I want to have a career in the construction industry after college, I mainly would like to teach construction related classes in a high school or post secondary setting. One of, if not my most important goal in my life is to learn how to build a home from the ground up. I have some experience working construction but not enough as far as I'm concerned. It's just a very important goal of mine.

I thought about taking a year off school and going to work for a company but then I thought of something more giving like volunteering. This would also be a lot more satisfying to me than just having a job because not only would I be helping a family in having their dream of owning a home, I would also be helping myself mentally by fulfilling one of my main dreams of learning to build a home and helping the less fortunate in the process. If you could please give me some insight or advice on this please let me know. I would really like to learn more about this program. Thank You.

Hi Ryan,

Details for Habitat for Humanity's home office are copied below. Based on your goal of wanting to get construction experience and have an opportunity to help those less fortunate than yourself, it sounds like the Habitat for Humanity AmeriCorps, VistCorps Program might fit your needs. You could build houses here in US or overseas, and they would probably cover your living expenses during an 11 month committment, and pay you an educational award of approximately $4,700 after your service that you could use towards college or training for your career!

Use the link copied below to go directly to the program.

http://www.habitat.org/cncs/default.aspx

Company:
Habitat for Humanity
Address #1:
121 Habitat Street
State or Province: GA
City: Americus
Zip: 31709

Tel #1:
1( 800) 422-4828 Ext. 2293
Website: http://www.hfhi.org
email_1: [email protected]