Parents and Students Connect with Program Representatives at Denver's First Ever Gap Year Fair

What is a gap year?: In case you didn't know, a "gap year" provides a post-high-school opportunity for exploration and growth leading to clearer direction and motivation for college studies and for life beyond!

Wednesday night at the Sherman Event Center in Denver, over 125 parents and students turned out at Denver's first ever gap year fair to meet representatives from 22 U.S. and international gap year organizations offering post-high school opportunities for self-exploration and personal growth. Educational organizations providing travel, cultural immersion, directed study, service projects, internships opportunities and more jumped at this opportunity to exhibit at the fair and answer questions from curious parents and students eager to jump on the gap year band wagon.

Lisa Switzer, Worldwide Director of Admissions for Up with People, and one of two non-profits in Denver hosting the event, said, “This generation of young people known as ‘Millenials’ have an innate need to experience the world around them not just through textbooks and lectures like their parents did – they want to experience it firsthand through immersion. The Gap Year experience is a great way for them to grow in their understanding of themselves and the world.”

Increasingly U.S college bound students, and their parents, are reconsidering options for the transition from high school to college. A press release prior to the Denver Gap Year Fair from the fair's host, Up with People summarized 'gap year' like this:

"A standard throughout Europe, students around the world – and now the U.S. – are realizing the value of the Gap Year experience. And, business is booming for the many for-profit and non-profit organizations catering to this growing market.".

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 30% of incoming college freshman to four-year degree programs in the U.S, leave before sophomore year. Affordable gap year options are becoming increasingly attractive alternatives to rushing straight from high school to college. The fact is, that throngs of U.S. high school graduates aren't ready for college, and taking a gap year often makes more sense than enrolling with little sense of direction or career interest.

The sponsor of U.S. based gap year fairs, Dynamy Internship Year, has scheduled a series of fairs on the west and east coasts over the next two to three months. Click here to see list of fairs in your area.