Gap Year
Come second semester, the senior class is always abuzz with discussions about which school everyone will be attending in the fall. However, some students don’t go straight to school; instead, they choose to take a gap year. Gap years may be taken for all sorts of reasons: to travel, to work, or to volunteer. They are a great way to spend time to think about what you may want to do for the rest of your life, as well as to provide a well-deserved break after high school before jumping straight into the stress of college.
Every year, a few students seriously debate taking a gap year. Senior Jacqueline Cooke is one of those few who have considered the option. When asked about this possibility, Cooke replied, “I’m not set on what my plans are for next year, but I’ve been strongly considering taking a gap year. I’d like to travel to a different country, one in need, where I could volunteer for a year. I still intend on going to college, just possibly a year later. I think the experience could give me some perspective on my life. I’m not sure what my plans are for later in life, so I hope the year off would give me time to figure out what I want to do and what inspires me.”
Students who do decide to take a gap year, especially to travel, will remember that year for the rest of their lives. 2012 Hills West graduate Omri Silberstein took time in this past year to visit the country of Israel. Silberstein has spent his time traveling productively as he described what he has been working on. “This year I spent 3 months on a kibbutz learning about different values and general history about the Jewish people and of Israel. And for the remainder of the year I did volunteer work in a school for troubled youth running discussions about different values of equality of human value and other things of that nature,” explained Silberstein. A gap year can resolve in making a difference not just for one person, but by helping and affecting the hearts of a whole group of people.
As a gap year is a more uncommon path for students who are leaving high school, only two students have taken this option in the past few years. Other then Silberstein, the only other student to have recently taken a year off is a student named Patrick Plasterer. Similar to Silberstein, Plasterer traveled before he went off to college. He spent his time living and working in Brazil, and then eventually off to college. Students who do take gap years generally take them to travel, as they discover that it is a great time for them to explore the world and that college will come eventually.
The Hills West head of the guidance department, Mrs. Gross, strongly suggests that more students look into gap years, as long as they consider the pros and cons. “Gap years are great for students who truly want to take them, for maybe they don’t want to go to college yet and it really gives that student more time to mature and have real life experiences,” said Mrs. Gross, “This is a great incentive for a lot of students but parents always pose concerns for their child, as not every child has that independent travel experience to allow them to truly be free or to work by themselves.”
A gap year is a great way for a student to better understand the world and him or herself. Students should not limit their options by believing that they must attend school in the fall after their graduation, for a gap year may be the perfect experience for someone who is willing to take one.
