The Gap-Year Advantage: Helping Your Child Benefit from Time Off Before or During College

PART 1

Introduction: Intrepid Pathways

I’M NOT SURE I want to go to college next year.

This was the first indication we had that our eighteen-year-old son, Adam, although accepted by selective colleges, was considering stepping off the traditional road of education to journey down a path less traveled.

But I do have an idea of what I want to do! he continued. Adam was inspired by a graduate of a school in his district who had taken time off before college to participate in a community service program called City Year. The young man, Matt Hendren, had returned to his alma mater and dropped by Adam’s government and politics class to talk about his experiences.

I was about to enroll in an excellent but very large university, Matt Hendren reported. "I didn’t have the focus or exposure to seek out what I wanted to do. If you have any doubt that you will succeed, take time off to ensure you will succeed. For me, City Year was the perfect mix of teaching, learning, exposure to the real world, and responsibility. Taking time off and serving through City Year was the best decision of my life." Matt’s description of teaching fourth-graders in a rooftop garden in Boston, Massachusetts, sparked an interest in Adam that was more relevant and focused than his vision of spending at least four more years sitting in classrooms.

While Adam spoke convincingly about how taking time off might be the right option for him, we recalled a time not too long ago when some in our generation had acted on President Kennedy’s assertion that one person can make a difference and every person should try through the Peace Corps or Volunteers In Service to America (VISTA). And many more of us—at least those not called by military service—had heard the words but continued unquestioningly and dutifully down the road prescribed by our schools, our parents, and our society. We also recalled conversations with a few peers who chose to set forth in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s on gap-year opportunities before or during college. They—like Adam’s City Year schoolmate—considered the experience powerful, pivotal, and life changing.

As Adam wondered about the options that might be open to him if he took time off, Karl recalled how, more than twenty years earlier, as a principal of Heathwood Hall in South Carolina, several of his students had questioned whether they were ready for college … yet. At that time, he had a fortuitous encounter with Cornelius Neil Bull, an educator and visionary, who made the case that there were alternatives to going straight to college for students who were prepared to choose them.

Inspired by Adam’s interest, we made a quick search of the Internet. We found that Neil Bull’s vision had grown into the Center for Interim Programs, LLC, located in Princeton, New Jersey, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Interim is a locus for helping thousands of students design and implement customized gap-year strategies. Soon Adam was on a conference call with Holly Bull, Neil’s daughter and the Center’s interim president. She described the myriad opportunities open to him if he was interested in pursuing intrepid pathways.

As we grew accustomed to the prospect of Adam’s stepping off the beaten track to college, we were reassured by the examples of other families who had been the beneficiaries of the Interim experience. Holly (like her father before her) ensured our involvement every step along the way, delving into our view of Adam’s options—and particularly reinforcing his college goals as an integral part of an overall plan. By the time of our initial phone interview with Holly, we believed Adam was prepared, along with us, to consider the prospects of taking time off as part of his educational and (perhaps) life goals.

"Would you like to work with a group in Central America? Explore where The Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed in New Zealand? Volunteer as a forest ranger in the Redwoods? Teach environmental studies in Appalachia? Intern with the British parliament?" Adam’s eyes grew wide as Holly was able to connect with exactly what Adam was hoping for: These were his options! He did have choices!

What emerged from these conference calls—and the conversations we had with Adam around them—was a plan for an extra-curriculum sequence of events that, combined, would last a year or more. Adam’s gap experiences would begin with a weeklong outdoor education program in New Jersey at Tom Brown, Jr.’s Tracker School and then would take him overseas to teach in Costa Rica and to work on an environmental preserve in New Zealand, finally leading him to a job in Texas as an instructor in environmental education. Holly’s sense of Adam’s goals provided a rationale for each program he considered and its respective place in the overall plan.

The first stage in Adam’s international journey was ten weeks living with a host family in a small mountain village in Costa Rica and teaching English with another volunteer in the local elementary school through a program called Global Routes. The growth, maturity, and perspective that he gained were evident to us in numerous ways, but can be illustrated through e-mails written at that time. He discovered through working with kids who were incredibly excited about learning that teaching was his calling. His fluency in Spanish grew exponentially as he became immersed in the life of the village.

He also gained a perspective on the value of resources. In my school there is absolutely nothing, he wrote in one e-mail. He proposed to develop a fund for textbooks and scholarships. Tons of the kids here want to go to school but can’t go past sixth grade because of the lack of funds, he relayed. Their hunger for learning and teaching in Costa Rica is awesome and has totally changed my view on education. During his time in Central America, he managed to raise more than two thousand dollars for books and scholarships, mostly through contacts at his former high school.

Last Thanksgiving, he sent this e-mail to his family: It’s amazing that this part of my life is about to end. It seems like a few days ago that I arrived in San José, and now I’m five days away from leaving. This experience has been the best thing that ever happened to me, and I appreciate all the support you all gave me throughout. My village will be forever thankful to you guys, and you can know that you really have made friends in Costa Rica.

The e-mails and the stories he has shared since provide only a hint of the breadth and depth of Adam’s experiences and the strength of the bonds he developed with his host family, his students, and his peers in the Global Routes program.

Adam’s experiences were eye-opening to us, as parents, and we continue to be amazed and inspired by Adam’s growth, development, and contributions during and after his time-off experiences. As Adam learned, so did we.

With a combined forty years of experience in public policy, we have been able to contribute to debates and initiatives regarding what can be done to improve educational outcomes for students. As teachers and parents, we’ve had the opportunity to help guide students in their options regarding post–high school choices. But, as effective educators will confide, the right personal stories can be extremely instructive. And we’ve rarely encountered stories as powerful as those of students who’ve taken time off before or during college. They have been able to learn more about themselves, and, at an age when many still call them kids, they have given back to the world in ways many adults could not even imagine.

This book is based on the stories of the dozens of students we’ve met and interviewed who’ve chosen to follow their own intrepid paths. It also is based on the experiences of dozens more families, counselors, program leaders, teachers, and other educators who have supported them along the way. The examples and practical advice in these pages are offered in the hope that many other young Americans and their families will step off the traditional road and benefit from the gap-year advantage—and come to believe, as we do, that we can all gain a better perspective on our place in the world and the wisdom that will help us in our journey through it.

We look forward to hearing more stories and learning of your journeys in the months and years ahead.

Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson

Advance, North Carolina

2005

1

Reality Check

You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.

—ABRAHAM LINCOLN

THE STAKES ARE HIGH for the almost fifteen million high school students who will return to classrooms this fall, most with the goal of attending a college or university immediately after graduation. Armed with guides, marketing brochures, and Web site information, parents will diligently do what they can to see that their child’s class rank is advanced, SAT and ACT scores are maximized, and extracurricular activities are amassed—whatever it takes to ensure that their child is accepted into the right college.

Come spring, acceptance letters will be received at homes across the country as students and parents wait—anxiously, expectantly—to see which colleges have said yes.

Congratulations! The chances are good that your child has gotten into at least one school. The more than two thousand days he or she has spent in classrooms, and the time, energy, and resources you have devoted to the application process have paid off. Many parents will breathe a sigh of relief. Their child has been accepted at college! And now he or she is one step closer to realizing their part of the American Dream.

Five years from now, however, many students and their parents may wish they had focused as much on having success in college as they had on gaining access to college.

According to the American College Testing service, less than half of those entering traditional four-year colleges after high school will have graduated after five years. One-quarter will have dropped out during their freshman year. Of those in college, many will report that they do not know why they are there or how their classes relate to any life or career goal. Many of those in school, as well as those who have left, will have accumulated considerable debt without a realistic chance of finding a job that matches their educational level.

For a number of these students, a gap-year plan may make the difference between graduating successfully from college with a strategy for life beyond and floating uncertainly on a path of young adulthood that may be accompanied by significant financial and emotional costs. Through the gap year, for the first time in their highly structured lives, students may have the opportunity to discover and follow their passion and to truly live in the present.

The benefits of a gap-year plan include gaining confidence, focus, and discipline, being able to bridge the gap between formal education and the real world, and building a résumé that will put students ahead of their peers in appealing to employers or graduate schools. In addition, students (and their parents!) with a gap-year plan may save thousands of dollars in college tuition, student loans, and scholarships. Less tangible, but perhaps most important, gap-year students will have the experience of taking responsibility for their lives and thereby gaining greater perspective on their place in the world and how they may uniquely contribute to their communities and families now and in the future.

A gap-year plan is not for every student, but it may make sense for your child or another young person you know. In this book, you will meet students who have incorporated such a plan into their college strategy. You will also meet their parents and others who have provided support, wisdom, and counsel. These supporters, as you will see, have even learned more about themselves along the