Gap Year Opportunities
A gap year, or time out, or growth year, whatever it is called, offers opportunities for students to learn more about themselves, get ready to continue their education, and figure out what they want to do or study. Many programs exist to help students and their parents with this time of transition. A few organizations are listed below:
- AmeriCorps - www.americorps.org, annually offers 75,000 opportunities for adults of all ages and backgrounds to serve through a network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit groups. AmeriCorps is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, an independent federal agency whose mission is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.
- California Conservation Corps, CCC - www.ccc.ca.gov, a state agency which provides meaningful work, training, public service, and educational activities for youth 18-23 years old.
- City Year - www.cityyear.org, a program for 17- to 24-year olds to do 10 months of full-time community service to their community and country.
- Council on International Educational Exchange, CIEE - www.ciee.org, provides international study programs and training opportunitues to high school graduates.
- Enrichment Alley - www.enrichmentalley.com, allows you to search (by all fields important to you, location, subjects available, type of program) and to connect with a large number of independent programs including academic enrichment, travel, community service, student exchange, internship experiences and distance learning. One particularly nice aspect is that the site includes many options for low income students, who are often shut out of summer programs because of cost. The site is still growing, but it is a terrific place to start your search for an enriching Gap Year.
- LeapNow - www.leapnow.org, offers programs for 17- to 22-year olds lasting from 2 weeks to 3 months or more. Programs emphasize real and include internships, experiential for-credit alternative college programs in Asia and Latin America, and gap year programs throughout the world. For an overview, you can listen to the podcast of an interview with Sam Bull, the founder of LeapNow and LeapYear.
- National Outdoor Leadership School, NOLS - www.nols.edu, offers courses from 10 days to full semesters, training in outdoor skills, wilderness leadership, wilderness medicine practices and protocols.
- Student Conservation Association, SCA - www.thesca.org, offers conservation opportunities to more than 3,000 people each year. Projects are available in every conservation discipline, from archeology to zoology and everything in between. Volunteers can build trails, restore habitat, guide interpretive hikes, study plants and animals, and participate in many other conservation-related projects in America’s urban and rural parks and public lands.