Taking a time to explore before college

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Gap Years are full of adventure.

There are 219 students in the senior class this year at Faith Lutheran. Out of these 219 over ninety percent of these students have made plans after high school to attend various universities and colleges across and outside of the United States. The other 10 percent of students have made various plans including immediately working to preparing for professional sports opportunities. However, only one person in the entire senior class has made plans to take a gap year after high school.

“ Yes, I am taking a gap year,” said Carli Nelson, a senior at Faith. Carli is the only student at Faith who is taking an official gap year. While she had the opportunity to attend university in the fall at the highly renowned university NYU, she opted to take a gap year instead.

She was very open about her reason for taking a gap year and what she was doing during her that year. “ I just feel like it’s the perfect time in my life to take a gap year. Because once I go to college, get my graduate degree, get a job and a family there will really be no foreseeable time in my future for an opportunity like this. In my gap year, I will spend some time training with a horse trainer in Holland as well as Au Pairing in Spain and doing some volunteering in Southeast Asia.”

Her efforts to and research about taking a gap year were not subsidized by the counseling department at Faith; more so her own personal desire to do so. “The counseling department did not provide me with any information about gap years. It was actually suggested by a family friend.”

Many other students also were in concurrence over the fact that little to no information about gap years as after high school plans was offered by the high school counseling department. “The counselors never mentioned the idea of a gap year to me.” said, senior, Avery Barela. In fact, many students did not even know what a gap year was.

The concept of not taking a gap year while it may seem normal here at Faith, is a completely foreign concept in many international communities such as Europe. Students in countries such as England usually take a year off from their studies to pursue passions or to do various programs to find out what their passion is. The year off also helps many students mature before they begin their independent lives.

While it is not always normal for students to take a gap year, many students in other schools in the U.S. in places such as Washington D.C. were very informed about what a gap year was and various gap year opportunities. Carter Wynne, a senior at Maret High School in Washington D.C. said, “I know what a gap year is. There’s always a few seniors every year at my school that take one.”

Other students in Washington D.C. such as Maddie Hammond, a junior at Washington International School, were not only very informed about gap years but were actually planning on taking one. “Yes, I fully intend on taking a gap year. I actually will be going to Madagascar to work on a lemur reserve for a year and then I will attend university” she said.

Mr. Watts, the AP Government teacher, was also someone here at Faith who did not know what a gap year was until recently. Although the idea was new to him, he was very intrigued by it. “I think a lot of students at Faith don’t take gap years because they are not informed about those opportunities. Plus I think it is also more likely that most students want to go straight to college and stick to tradition.”

He also thinks that while it is not for everyone more students should take gap years. “It is not exactly for everyone but I do think that taking a year off and seeing other things in the world other than going right back to school is a good idea,” said Watts.

So whether you decide to go straight to college or go on a gap year- post high school plans vary greatly. For some, taking a gap year is a great and easy experience for them before they go to a university. For others taking a gap year isn’t plausible and they may benefit more from going straight to a university. However, wherever one may fall on this spectrum it is important to be informed of post high school options such as these.