CARPE DIEM IN THE NEWS

 

 

  1. KVNF Radio Interview, May 19, 2010
    Britt Basel talks about the powerful impact of International Education
    By Daniel Costello

  2. Summit Daily News, May 1, 2010
    Travel: Changing times in Northern Tanzania
    By Britt Basel

  3. International Educator, March 10, 2010
    Education Abroad. Time Out: The GAP Year Abroad
    By Janet Hulstrand

  4. Sikkim Express, March 23, 2009
    Local Media Give Tough Fight to Americans, Lose Football Match by 3-4
    By Staff Reporter

  5. Tidewater News, November 7, 2008
    Childlike Curiosity Still Drives Rabil
    By Kathi Pines

  6. The Press of New Zealand, November 5, 2008
    Restoring Walls with Historic Past
    By Shane Cowlishaw

  7. Omaha World-Herald, October 16, 2008
    High School, Gap Year, College; Taking a break between academic stints takes hold in U.S.
    By Teresa Forbes

  8. The Oregonian, Front Page, Monday, 28 July 2008
    More Oregon Teens Take 'Gap Year' Before College
    By Kimberly Melton

  9. The Portland Tribune, July 23, 2008
    Service programs help students fill ‘gap year’
    Portland attracts Gen Y idealists who come here for ‘meaning-driven’ lives
    By Jennifer Anderson

  10. Baltimore Examiner, June 7, 2008
    By Andrea Farnum

 

 

KVNF RADIO, May 19, 2010

Travel: Changing times in Northern Tanzania
Britt Basel talks about the powerful impact of International Education
By Daniel Costello

Britt Basel talks about the powerful impact of International Education based on her experiences working with Carpe Diem International Education, National Geographic Student Expeditions and Putney Student Travel.

Listen
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Connecting the world and empowering people through image, story, and whole-systems thinking. Britt Basel is a photographer and travel writer focusing on cultural and environmental sustainability. She leads expeditions and teaches photography for National Geographic Student Expeditions and leads university semesters abroad for Carpe Diem International Education. She privately mentors photographers wanting to learn how to better express a story through image and consults with a variety of entrepreneurial and humanitarian projects, both domestically and internationally, on whole-systems strategy.

 

 

SUMMIT DAILY NEWS, May 1, 2010

Travel: Changing times in Northern Tanzania
By Britt Basel

It was hot. So hot that all I could do was lie still in my tent, waiting for the heat of the high sun to have a little mercy as the afternoon slowly rolled on. I was with a group on students, fresh off the thrill of safari, staying with the Maasai of Esilalei in Northern Tanzania.

From a Land Rover in a national park, this landscape is the stuff of childhood fantasies. For the Maasai, it is a harsh reality: here the land teems with animals that can gore, maim, or trample you. For much of the year the land is covered by dry grass and scrub, both inedible to humans. The few pools of fresh water are stagnant and uninviting.

With incredible ingenuity, the Maasai adapted to this harsh environment: the goats and cows of their herds eat the grasses that people can't, making something inedible into meat that humans can eat. The animals can drink from the stagnant pools of water so that, instead of putrid water, the Maasai drink the blood and milk of the animals. Not quite the traditional diet of the Western world, but the perfect way to survive in this hostile environment.

My students and I had come to this unique corner of the world to learn about the Maasai firsthand; talk with them, learn from them, and at least get a taste of what it is like to live the way that they do.

After much discussion, we decided that this included having a barbecue.

A few days after we were arrived, our host Mzee took me to the market to buy the goat.

We arrived early at the market. The vendors unpacked boxes of shoes made from used tires, thick enough to walk on the vicious thorns that cover the ground, knives covered with red-hide sheaths, and shukas, the traditional dress of the Maasai, now made in China and sent back for them to buy.

Buying the goat was a quick exchange, Mzee knew the animal. It belonged to his brother-in-law and he could tell by looking at it that is was healthy.

The way Mzee picked up the goat and shoved it into the back of the SUV was anything but ceremonious.

I started to think about our separation from the food we eat the Western world. We have to go out of our way to think about where the meat in the cellophane package comes from and remember it was an animal, just like this goat. In contrast to the inhumane factories that our meat is raised in, this goat at least had spent its life grazing the fields under the African sun.

There was nothing easy about watching Mzee and a few of the other men slaughter the goat, though we all stood on the sidelines in solemn silence. Shortly, pieces of meat, no different than most of us see everyday, were skewered onto sticks and put over the fire to barbecue.

The traditional world of the Maasai is ceasing to exist all around them. They are boxed in by towns, agricultural areas, and national parks. But they are adapting. Some have changed drastically, abandoning their traditional shukas for jeans and looking for cash income in Arusha, the nearest city and the safari capital of Tanzania. Others have taken just as much as they need, like the three young Maasai warriors that joined us at our feast, whipping out dated cell phones that have to be charged in town, since there is no electricity out here. A few, like Mzee, are looking for ways to adapt while preserving the heritage they come from. Mzee chooses to bring in respectful outsiders so we can learn about this beautiful people and the rich traditions they have.

One day I was walking with Mzee. He stopped me, pointing out nearby tracks and a spot where the earth was disturbed. “A giraffe slept here last night,” he said. We were just a couple hundred feet from my safari tent where I waited out the afternoon heat earlier that day and had slept the night before. The same rush flooded over me as when I saw that first elephant out on safari. This was a world where lions hunt, elephants roam, and giraffes lay down for the night so close to where you, yourself, slept. This reality is romantic as it is harsh, just as it is in danger of vanishing. More than anything, though, at this very moment and on the other side of the world, it is real.

Britt Basel is a photographer and travel writer focusing on cultural and environmental sustainability. She teaches photography for National Geographic Student Expeditions, leads university semesters abroad, and is a whole systems design consultant. She is a Colorado native living in Summit County. She can be contacted at britt@brittbaselphoto.com.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATOR, March 10, 2010

Education Abroad. Time Out: The GAP Year Abroad
By Janet Hulstrand

Interest in students taking a “time out” between high school and college (or sometimes during college) has been steadily building for some time. “In the last five to ten years there’s really been a tipping point,” says Holly Bull, president of the Center for Interim Programs (CIP), one of the first and longestrunning providers of gap year programs in the country. “People understand the concept now; you don’t have to explain anymore what it is.” Bull adds that in her view “gap” as it is sometimes called, is “a trend on its way to becoming a movement,” pointing to the growing popularity of gap-year fairs, a spate of recent books, articles and other media attention given to the topic, and growing acceptance, even enthusiasm, among college admissions officers, including those at some of the country’s most prestigious institutions, for the practice.

Gap Year Not Always Acceptable

Back in 1980, when her father, Cornelius Bull founded CIP, it was a different story. “There was no term for it back then,” Bull says. “People didn’t know what it was. It was already pretty common in England, but here in the States the concept was really new.” At that time most parents and educators believed that for a student to take a year off between high school and college was a dangerous formula for never going to college at all, a concern that still exists, but is waning in the light of increasing evidence that a gap year can be a very productive step toward a successful college career rather than a retreat from it. The term as well as the practice originated in the United Kingdom and is also popular in Australia. But as the gap year in the United States begins to define itself, differences between the British model and the U.S. one are emerging. “While in England some ‘gappers’ use the time for vacationing in trendy European partying spots, there’s a very different model taking shape for the American gap year,” says Kristin White, author of The Complete Guide to the Gap Year. “U.S. college admissions officers expect gap year students to have fun, but they also like to see a plan that includes activities with intellectual depth that will help students grow as people.”In conducting research for her book, White was able to confirm the growing popularity of the phenomenon in the United States “Colleges are reporting a doubling or tripling of the number of accepted students who are asking for a deferral in order to pursue a gap year”she says. The CIP Web site describes a gap year as a time when students “take a year off (in reality, a year very much ‘on’) to immerse themselves in other cultures, explore specific interests, or volunteer to help others.” The gap year can help students gain greater confidence, a clearer direction, and invaluable life experience. In addition, more and more educators, from college presidents to directors of admissions and educcation abroad advisers are beginning to recognize the benefits of a “gap year” not only for students, but for the colleges they end up attending as well.

Benefits of the Gap Year

“Gap year programs are a great way for students to learn about their own individual interests and clarify their career pursuits before starting university,” says Cynthia Banks, executive director of GlobaLinks Learning Abroad, another program provider. “Education abroad does the same thing, but a junior in college is often already predisposed to a particular major….‘Gap’ may be a way to help students mature and choose the right path to begin with.” Gap students arrive at college more ready to buckle down and learn, according to Bull. “They’re less likely to be drinking like crazy, they’re not floundering around, they just have a better sense of their core and their compass.” Ron L. Witczak, assistant vice provost and director of study abroad at Portland State University (PSU) in Oregon, agrees. “If done properly, the experience can and will be transformative for the student,” he says, and adds “I believe that students who participate in successful gap year programs are much better prepared for higher education: they’re more prepared to think critically, to see the world through another lens, to gain some intercultural perspective and just be better citizens.”

Gap Year Students Often More Interested in Education Abroad

Witczak says that another benefit for schools may be that “gappers” arrive at college more interested in engaging in education abroad during their college years. “I believe that when students have had an international experience prior to coming to college, they are more likely than others to seek out another international experience,” he says. “Increasingly, our advisers are meeting with freshman students at orientation sessions who indicate that they have studied abroad before and want to know how best to plan for another experience. We have seen a sizable increase in advising to freshman students about what possibilities exist and how best to prepare for that experience.” (While not all gap year programs involve study abroad, many, if not most of them involve at least one international experience during the course of the year.)

Specialized Gap Year Programs at Universities Emerging

The Office of International Affairs at PSU is currently engaged in a year-long pilot program in cooperation with Carpe Diem, a local organization that offers gap year experiences to recent high school graduates. As part of this pilot program, PSU grants credit on transcripts for all of Carpe Diem’s programs. Students from Carpe Diem can be admitted to PSU in one of two ways: either as visiting or “quick-entry students” or as students fully admitted to PSU. The quickentry students receive a courtesy enrollment and registration for the duration of their Carpe Diem program only. Students wishing to qualify for federal financial aid must by fully admitted to PSU and must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as well meet as all the admission requirements of degree-seeking students. When asked how this arrangement benefits PSU, Witczak explains: “It enhances our portfolio of service-learning programs, for which we are nationally recognized. Also, gap year programs help the Office of International Affairs meet one of our president’s initiatives, which is to strengthen our relationships with the K–12 sector. Finally, since this program is a contract program, it offers some revenue to PSU for its services, critical in a climate of decreased state funding for higher education.” “Gap” makes financial sense from a parental point of view as well. According to Rae Nelson, coauthor with Karl Haigler of The Gap Year Advantage, at least two studies have shown that the average length of time for students to graduate from college is now more than six years. The reasons include switching majors and changing schools, both more likely to happen when students are unsure of what they’re doing in school or how their studies fit into their overall career plan. “They’re 17, 18, they don’t know what they want to do,” says Bull. “They just want to get out and explore.” And while gap year programs abroad can be expensive, even lowincome students can find opportunities that are affordable. “Thinking Beyond Borders is a selective program that offers full scholarships including tuition and air travel to several of their participants,” says White. “Another option is for students to use their federal financial aid to participate in programs that are affiliated with a college where they can receive credit. Leap Now and Carpe Diem are examples of two such programs.” One of the most interesting things about gap year is the seeming paradox that when students are allowed to indulge in a year of relatively free exploration it often leads them toward much more focused career goals. Alexander Sullivan’s story is a case in point. As a high school senior Sullivan was accepted to Columbia by early decision. But since middle school he had had a desire to do something different before going on to college. He asked for and was granted permission to defer enrollment and in the fall of 2005, he went to Beijing. He spoke not a word of Chinese but he had a fondness for kung fu movies “and whatnot,” some previous study of Japanese, and an awareness that “China fever” was beginning. “I thought it would be exciting to go there, and of course it was,” he says. During the fall months he studied Mandarin at a small private language school with 28 U.S. college students, and lived with a Chinese roommate, with whom he had “a pledge” to speak only Chinese; the roommate has since become a lasting friend. In December, Sullivan was joined first by some friends, later by his parents, and for a few weeks he traveled around China with them. He then returned to Beijing, where he worked as a research assistant at the Newsweek Beijing bureau, and at Voice of America radio news until the following June. Now a senior at Columbia, Sullivan is completing work on his East Asian Studies major with a specialization in ancient Chinese philosophy and a focus on classical Chinese. He has returned to China twice during the summers for additional language study. “I discovered in that year a deep and abiding passion for China and the Chinese language, which I have pursued throughout college,” he says. “My gap year tremendously enriched my college experience; after all, it entirely launched my academic direction.” The personal gains he made that year were also important. “My experience taught me that I could move confidently into any environment, no matter how foreign, and make a meaningful and successful experience out of it.” Of his career plans, Sullivan says, “I have several exciting avenues that I am exploring. As of now, none of them include China specifically. But as I continue to learn more about China in all its aspects, I will bring that awareness to my work, and in whatever I do, I will be looking for ways I can use my knowledge to foster crosscultural exchange in the field and bring that work to the Sino–U.S. marketplace.” As the gap year trend picks up steam, some colleges and universities are designing their own versions of gap-year programs.

Princeton University made news in the summer of 2008 when it announced that it would be launching a “Bridge Year” program for newly admitted undergraduates. In the fall of 2009, the first cohort of 20 students began a tuition-free year of enrichment focusing on public service abroad. The goal of the Bridge Year is to provide students with an expanded perspective, a chance to relax and refocus between high school and college, and an orientation to service. Princeton covers all core program expenses and provides supplemental funding based on need for those who cannot afford the incidental costs—airfare, health insurance and personal items—t hat families are asked to pay. Students live with families in the communities they’re serving, and all receive language training as part of the program. The first group of 20 students is currently involved in a variety of projects in Peru, Ghana, India, and Serbia. According to John Luria, director of the program, who was asked for comment at mid-point of the first year, “Our first cohort is a remarkable group. It’s a fairly challenging experience, and participants seem to be fully embracing the challenge. It’s a bit early to make a definitive statement, but I can say that it has already more than met my initial expectations.” Other schools are offering programs that combine some of the elements familiar to “gap” with credit-bearing courses. At Long Island University, there is no gap year program per se, but students enrolled in the Global College spend three and a half years abroad, including a freshman year spent at the College’s Costa Rica Center where a combination of seminars, field work and service learning projects expose them to multiple perspectives on contemporary global issues, empowering them to contribute to positive social change.

Accepting the Gap

While the concern about “gappers” never making it to college persists, there is now statistical evidence that for students engaged in a purposeful, well-planned gap year, this should not be a concern. Haigler and Nelson have recently completed the first survey of gap year students from the United States, the results of which will be published in their next book, Gap Year, American Style, expected to be published within the year. “We found that gap students return to college generally within six months after their gap year, with a reignited passion for learning, and the ability to connect formal education with real-world experiences,” says Nelson. (Their survey of 300 students found that 90 percent had returned to school within one year and 80 percent within six months—and that the other 10 percent generally had good reasons for not having returned, such as taking an extra gap year, family illness, etc.) Most educators do recommend that students considering “gap” apply for admission to college as seniors in high school, and then defer enrollment, a recommendation with which Sullivan agrees. “I would recommend settling the college question during high school, before a gap year,” he says. “I would not have wanted to apply to college from China…communications could be slow and unreliable.” The most common time, and in the opinion of many educators, the optimal time to do a gap year is between high school and college, though there is a growing number of college students who also opt to do a gap year in the middle of their college years. But according to Bull, the rise in gap year participation is not limited to teenagers and young adults. There is also a rising number of baby boomer retirees who are jumping on the bandwagon.

And why not?

“You know, when we’re born, we’re put on this track,” says Bull. “Nobody asks us if we want to be put in school, we’re just put in school. Nobody asks us if we want to go to first grade. And then after you finish high school, you’re supposed to go to college, and there’s not a lot of choice there either, really. When somebody comes along and says, ‘Hey! Why not do a gap year, where you actually choose what to do based on your interests, nothing that you have to do, or ought to do, or should do, but just what lights you up? And then this person starts laying out concrete options for you. I mean, why wouldn’t people jump up and down over that?” IE

Janet Hulstrand is a freelance writer in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her last article for IE was “Preparing Students for Good Health Abroad” that appeared in the fourth annual Health and Insurance Supplement to the November/December 2009 issue.

 

 

SIKKIM EXPRESS, MARCH 23, 2009

Local Media Give Tough Fight to Americans, Lose Football Match by 3-4
By Staff Reporter

Gangtok, March 22: An exhibition match between United Sikkim Sporting Club [USSC] and a team comprised of Gangtok based journalists was another highlight of the final match of State-level U-15 Boys' [seven-a-side] Football Tournament played today at Sikkim Government College ground at Tadong.

The USSC team comprised by Carpe Diem's American students and USSC members, while media team had Gangtok based journalists from different print and electronic media.

In an interesting and closely played match, USSC defeated media team by 4 goals to 3.

Karma P Bhutia contributed 2 goals for USSC, while Ben and Andrew scored one goal each or USSC.

Sagar Chhetri [Sikkim NOW!] Bijoy Gurung [UNI] and Kunal Rai [Sikkim Mail] scored one goal each for media team.

USSC General Secretary, Arjun Rai gave a brief report of the tournament, while the prize distribution ceremony concluded with the presentation of vote of thanks by Sherap Lepcha from USSC.

 

 

TIDEWATER NEWS, NOVEMBER 7, 2008

Childlike curiosity still drives Rabil
By Kathi Pines Tidewater News

FRANKLIN—Growing up in Southampton County, Marshall Rabil often pondered what the world outside of Virginia was like.

“I always had a curiosity about how things were in other places. I wondered why I was born here and not in a small village in Africa,” said Rabil, the 27-year-old son of Franklin residents Frank and Lynne Rabil.

So, when Rabil later had the opportunity to travel to Japan for educational enrichment, that same curiosity pushed him to take the chance. Since going to Japan, Rabil has traveled extensively around the world learning new languages and different cultures.

In 2007, Rabil joined Carpe Diem International Education group, an international academic program that takes college-age students to faraway places like East Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, the South Pacific, India and South America.

According to its Web site, the program’s goal is to push the comfort zones of students by immersing them in the cultures of the places they visit through volunteerism.

As a group leader, Rabil has been putting his travel history to good use by leading students in these excursions. Each trip has two mentors, one male and one female, who supervise and facilitate the students’ experiences.

So far, he has led a group to Central America and India. This spring he will take a group to East Africa.

Rabil enjoys watching as the students come into a greater understanding of what people all over the world are truly like. One of his fondest memories is a scavenger hunt in New Delhi, India.

“We challenged the students to use three forms of transportation, and one of them chose a rickshaw as one of his three — only he didn’t ride on the back; he asked the driver if he could switch places with him so that he (the student) could get a feel for what the driver must experience every day.”

Rabil’s boss and Carpe Diem founder Ethan Knight said in a telephone interview that Rabil’s relationship with the students is exactly why Knight is glad Rabil is on his team.

“Marshall has a rare quality that helps him get really in tune and in touch with our students. He can sense just when they need assistance but knows how to back off as well.”

Knight said Rabil also has been helpful in the development of new programs and marketing.

“He was instrumental in creating our newest program that will be sending students to Japan. He thinks way outside the box, so we usually use any idea he comes up with.”

Rabil thinks he eventually will settle back in his native Western Tidewater.

“I feel like right now I’m traveling and gathering knowledge and information that I can use in the future to really benefit Southampton.”

For now, Rabil plans to tour area high schools and speak to students about how they too can travel.

“I just want our kids to know that if anyone has the desire to travel outside the country, there are a number of ways they can do so. They shouldn’t let fear of the unknown hold them back. The world is wide open.”

For more information about Carpe Diem International, call 877-285-1808, e-mail info@carpediemeducation.org or visit www.carpediemeducation.org.

Tidweater News, November 7, 2008

 

 

THE PRESS OF NEW ZEALAND, NOVEMBER 5, 2008

Restoring Walls with Historic Past
By Shane Cowlishaw

In the hills above Lyttelton, ancient "dry-stone walls" built by Scottish stonemasons are receiving much needed attention from one of Canterbury's environment crusaders.

Lyttelton Environment Group spokesperson Alison Ross, who has been involved in several projects in the area over the years, has been organising groups of volunteers from overseas to clear vegetation from the historic structures.

Located on Department of Conservation land on Chalmers Farm, the walls date back to the 1880s and were built by Scottish immigrant Adam Chalmers and his wife.

Predominantly farmers, the couple also had a stonemason background, and constructed the walls to terrace what was to be one of the first dairy farms to supply the area.

Ross, who herself comes from a Scottish stonemason background, has organised groups of international environment volunteers, mostly from America, to come and work on various projects for the past six years.

The focus of the work on the walls, which stretch for around 100m, is to remove overgrown vegetation, particularly before tree roots begin to damage the structure.

Ross said there were no plans to repair or restore the actual walls despite their age.
"It's lasted a hundred years and as long as you're careful with some of these wildings ... it's a very well built wall, brilliantly built. To me it's like exposing Angkor Wat (a temple complex in Cambodia)."

Christchurch resident Bayden Norris, who lived on Chalmers Farm in the 1950s, said he was delighted at the restoration project.
"He (Alan Chalmers) took land up there that was pretty poor but over the years with his wife it's an old Scottish way of farming removed all the stones from the paddock and built a dry stone fence ... and in the process you have cleared your paddock of stones. Some of those stones are so big you just can't imagine two people doing it but I understand Mrs Chalmers was just as strong as Mr Chalmers."

After clearing the wall, the group plan to plant native plants and trees with the help of DOC and turn the area into a native reserve.

The Press of New Zealand, November 5, 2008

 

 

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, OCTOBER 16, 2008

High School, Gap Year, College;
Taking a break between academic stints takes hold in U.S.< br /> By Teresa Forbes

 

Instead, the May 2008 graduate of Roncalli Catholic High School is working to save money for college and taking time to figure out what he wants to study and do with his life.

"I've given it a lot of thought to what my future may hold, but I'm going to do it my way. I'm not going to do it by anybody else's so-called rules telling me when to do things. I am going to go to college when I'm ready," the 19-year-old Omahan said.

Break time
Like other young people who are either burned out from school or unsure of what they want to do with their lives, Sledge has opted to take a "gap year" from academics. In some cases, a gap year involves enrolling in a structured program that offers an opportunity to travel and work abroad, doing community service jobs such as building houses or working in an orphanage in a developing country.

"We are seeing more students doing this. Not a huge number of students, but we see a couple in every class who actually have it all worked out and are doing something like that, a service-learning project," said Mary-Beth Muskin, director of guidance at Omaha South High School.

The gap year has been around for decades in Europe. One of the most notable gap-year participants is Britain's Prince William, who spent time working in Belize and Chile.

Coming to America
The gap year has since crossed the pond and is becoming more of an American thing to do.

Carpe Diem Education, a structured gap-year program based in Portland, Ore., has increased its programs by 30 percent in the last year to meet demand, said Ethan Knight, executive director.

Knight cites academic burnout among young people as a reason for the increase.
"They've done 18 years of living with a whole lot of school and really the last thing on their minds is college credit. You mention 'paper' and they run away and cower in the corner," Knight said.

With a structured program, many colleges are willing to defer enrollment for a year to allow students to work overseas.
"They feel it brings them a much better, well-rounded student," Muskin said. "If it's a service project, it's a terrifically eye-opening experience in terms of understanding life, people, privilege, rights and all those things that are wonderful life experiences that you would have a hard time experiencing any other way."

An extra year of college
Union College in Lincoln offers a gap-yearlike program to its students, which allows them to work overseas and receive college credit for it.
"We really call it an extra year of college because students gain more there than they do in college, for sure," said Chaplain Rich Carlson, vice president for spiritual life at the college, which is affliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The program focuses on humanitarian, community service and mission work.
"It's a shrinking world. The kids get exposed to another culture and more than just in a visiting way. They have to embed themselves in the culture if they're there for a year," Carlson said.

The real deal
Kylie Schnell, an education major at Union College, taught school and did humanitarian work in Kenya last year between her freshman and sophomore year. Although she's a year behind her peers, Schnell, 20, said the experience of working overseas was priceless and reaffirmed her calling to be a teacher.
"I learned about the world and about myself and about how there is such a bigger picture to life than just what we know here," Schnell said. "I learned far more in that year than anything I could have learned in four typical years in college."

Schnell worked with children in the slums outside of Niarobi, Kenya's capital. She also did food outreach to thousands of families during the country's election crisis, an event that opened her eyes to how much Americans have and take for granted, such as government not based on corruption.

Like Schnell, Union student Becky Thompson also gained a stronger sense of self and broader perspective of the world after spending the 2007-2008 academic year in Nicaragua. The 21-year-old international rescue relief and nursing major did medical work in Francia Sipri, an impoverished village along the Atlantic coast. Thompson did hands-on medical work like helping to deliver babies. She said the experience strengthened her self-confidence and taught her about conflict resolution.
"It's an amazing opportunity in that you learn about other people and see the world and get to know God better and yourself," Thompson said. "It definitely adds to your learning and does not take away from it, even though you may have to be in school longer."

The changed person
There's no doubt students return as changed people from their experience overseas, Carlson said.
"They're just different people. They have a worldview that's different. They have a maturity that's different. They have a responsibility that's different," he said.

While a structured gap year may be preferred, an unstructured year can serve a student well depending on the case, according to Muskin. The pros: Students have a year to grow up and learn about life and people. The cons: They get out of the habit of studying and focusing. And if they're working, they may find it difficult to give up that paycheck.
"Those are the kids whom we worry a little more about if, in fact, they do go into something that requires the additional training and education," Muskin said.

Still searching
For Sledge, college is in his future — either next semester or next year. In the meantime, he's working as a site supervisor at Arts for All, a nonprofit program that provides affordable art classes to the public.

Sledge links his strong sense of independence to his father's death two years ago from cancer.
"I kind of decided then I'm not going to wait for someone to just hand things to me. I am going to go and get them," he said.

teresa.forbes@owh.com
Omaha World-Herald, October 16, 2008

 

 

THE OREGONIAN, FRONT PAGE, MONDAY, 28 JULY 2008

More Oregon Teens Take 'Gap Year' Before College
By Kimberly Melton

 

Jul. 26 - As high school graduation approached, Emily Flock of Portland didn't know how to explain to her parents that she was burned out, wrung out, tired of classroom walls and college-level coursework.

"I just knew I did not want to go to school right now," said Flock, 18. "I was tired of learning in a classroom. I want to immerse myself in the hands-on, real world."

Flock and a close friend will spend the next year building homes in Costa Rica, working on an organic farm in Ecuador and volunteering at a national park in Peru.

They're among more students taking a "gap year" between high school and college. The students often work, volunteer and travel abroad, sometimes by strapping on their backpacks and hitting the road on their own but often heading to another country through structured programs.

Groups catering to "gappers" are increasingly popping up on the Web. Companies that offer programs have seen a spike in interest and applications. Some gap year experiences can cost as much as $30,000 and come fully equipped with classes, outings and college credit. Others only require students work for their room and board.

Supporters say the slacker stigma attached to taking time off is fading as college counselors and academics recommend a break from school so students can clear their minds.

"They sit so much in high school and have people talk to them," said Ethan Knight, executive director of Portland-based Carpe Diem International, which offers three-month group semesters abroad to about 150 students a year. "I think part of our role is to take students out of park and put them into drive."

In a little more than a year, Carpe Diem has doubled its offerings, adding three programs that take students to East Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. In East Africa, for instance, students volunteer at an HIV/AIDS clinic in Uganda, cross the border to Tanzania, ferry across Lake Victoria, study Swahili, take a three-day trek with local tribes and volunteer with street kids who live near the base of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Carpe Diem charges $7,000 to $10,000 for each trip. And a budding partnership with Portland State University allows students to earn college credit.

Though the idea is catching on, it's hard to track overall numbers because many students still strike out on their own.

But Holly Bull, president of The Center for Interim Programs, based in Princeton, N.J., measures the increased interest in the number of gap year fairs she attends and is no longer having to explain the concept to people.

"I wouldn't call it mainstream yet, but I would say there's been a real tipping point in the past few years," she said.

Bull and her staff counsel students and parents through the gap year experience. For about $2,000, Bull will help students decide where to go, which programs are reputable and how to finance their yearlong adventure.

She bills her company as the "oldest gap year program in the nation" -- her father started it in 1980 -- and said she's worked with more than 5,000 people since then.

Flock and her friend, both Cleveland High School graduates, are working in Portland until December and hope to save $6,000 for their trip through Central and South America.

Heather Olson, 18, another Cleveland High School graduate, is also working until she and a friend leave for India in January to teach at a school serving disadvantaged youths.

Anne Kitzmiller, a Wilsonville High School graduate heading to a yearlong cultural and language program at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, wants to come back home with a greater sense of purpose and confidence.

"I'm not just going to college because everyone else is going," said Kitzmiller, 18. "I want to find something I want to dedicate myself to, something to fall in love with."

But her decision wasn't without some turmoil and skeptics.

"A lot of people at school questioned me about why I was taking a year to have fun," Kitzmiller said. "They were asking me why I was slacking off. I didn't want it to be seen like that."

Some students second-guess their decisions, and if they don't, parents and teachers do. Several students said teachers discouraged them from taking a year off, fearing they might never return to their education.

Parents question the safety of some of these far-off places. And students wonder, too, if the experience will put them a step forward or a step behind.

"Originally, I applied to colleges because I think I was scared to take a year off," said Olson, who is going to Rishikesh, India. "I was kind of afraid that when I went to college after a year I would have forgotten everything or be unmotivated."

Most students, Carpe Diem's Knight said, return to classes with greater passion and understanding of the world.

"It's one thing to talk about poverty and see it on TV," he said. "It's something completely different to be on the streets of Calcutta in the middle of it working at Mother Teresa's Center."

Students who have had these experiences are a growing commodity. Princeton announced plans this year to launch a program that encourages students to take a year off between high school and college to perform service work around the world.

Harvard University faculty and admissions staff recommend that students postpone their entrance to college for a year. About 50 to 70 incoming Harvard students do so annually.

Years ago, Lyn Wickman graduated from high school in Peru and took a year off to study in England before heading to college. So when her 17-year-old daughter, Lindsay, proposed spending a year abroad before college, Lyn said she was both excited and sad.

"I think it's hard going from having a daughter who's here all the time to someone who is more of an adult and is living in Switzerland," Lyn Wickman said. "I think it would be even more difficult if my husband and I weren't aware of it and hadn't done it ourselves."

After graduating from McMinnville High School, Lindsay decided she wanted to perfect her French. She's just completed her third week in Neuchatel, Switzerland, where she's an au pair, takes French classes and travels.

Back when she was in England, Lyn let her parents know what she was up to via postcards and the post office, but her daughter corresponds over e-mail multiple times a week and talks to her family with software that allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet.

Lindsay Wickman, like many gappers, also keeps a running blog of her adventures.

"I am happy and I am getting more and more comfortable with everything each day," she wrote recently. "I'm sure there are some lonely and difficult days ahead but I am excited for the year I have in front of me!"

For fellow McMinnville grad Sarah Cooley, being apart from her parents hasn't been as stressful as learning the cultural norms and customs in Germany, where she's doing a series of internships at the University of Bonn in the microbiology lab and working with animals in a biology museum.

"There is always difficulty of adapting to society's traditions and rules," she wrote in an e-mail about her trip so far. "Turning off the water in between every step in the shower, never leaving things plugged in, not using a dryer on clothes, walking EVERYWHERE."

Her education has already begun.

The Oregonian, Front Page, Monday, 28 July 2008

 

 

THE PORTLAND TRIBUNE, JULY 23, 2008

Service programs help students fill ‘gap year’
Portland attracts Gen Y idealists who come here for ‘meaning-driven’ lives
By Jennifer Anderson

 

According to at least one economic study, several years ago Portland emerged as a haven for the Creative Class, the group of college-educated 25- to 34-year-olds who flocked here to immerse themselves in the alternative culture and jobs that abound.

Nowadays, Portland is becoming a hotspot for the younger, more idealistic set known as Generation Y.

Break Away, an Atlanta nonprofit that connects high school and college students to community service work, has brought 41 students from across the U.S. to its national conference in Portland this week, the theme of which is “environmental stewardship.”

In 15 years, it’s the group’s first conference in Portland, where the environment seemed like a natural focus, said Jill Piacitelli, executive director of the program.

So far, she said, “People are crazy about (Portland). It’s a town that people can be easily smitten with. They’re conscientious consumers of the places they want to live, do service in. They want to make sure everything fits into their meaning-driven lifestyle. Portland is a dreamland for that.”

Since July 19, the students have been attending lectures, workshops, panel discussions and other activities based from the Northwest Portland International Hostel and Guesthouse, 425 N.W. 18th Ave.

While they’re in town, they’re set to perform about 500 hours of volunteer work with community organizations including Friends of Trees, the Rebuilding Center, Zenger Farm and the Forest Park Conservatory.

Other Break Away groups that have come to Portland over the years have worked with Inside Out, the No Ivy League and other agencies that focus on hunger, homelessness, poverty, literacy, racism and the environment.

The idea of a “break away” is that students take an alternative approach to the typical spring, fall, summer or winter break that involves hitting the ski slopes or tropics.

When the six-day conference wraps up on Friday, July 25, they’ll return to their campuses and likely bring more groups to Portland for similar experiences before they head out to their next two destinations — Biloxi, Miss., for a training on voter registration and rebuilding homes, and Cincinnati for a lesson on urban renewal and poverty.

“The hope is to spend a lot of trips back from their respective schools,” Piacitelli said. “They’re hoping to do a good enough job so it’s not just a trend. That’s a fear of these college students, that it will come and go, but they do a strong education piece. So far that really is helping them to see they can be lifelong contributors to this work.”

Living and voting overseas

Another sign of the rising dominance of Gen-Yers in Portland is a small operation in Kenton called Carpe Diem International.

The organization, headquartered at the home of its executive director and founder, Ethan Knight, is based on the idea of providing a “gap year” experience to young, wide-eyed students.

The term refers to the growing trend of students taking a year off between high school and college, simply to recharge their batteries as well as pursue once-in-a-lifetime travel and community service opportunities.

“We’re trying to push them out of their comfort zone,” said Knight, a 2001 Willamette University graduate who, along with five staff members, leads semester-long trips to far-flung locales like Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and the South Pacific.

“We throw them into some really rich soil, where they’re curious about how things are different and how things are the same. It puts them into a totally different frame of mind for learning.”

For a fee of $7,900 to $9,900, the program includes language classes, food, lodging, group activities and travel while abroad; everything except international airfare.

Since launching in January 2007, Carpe Diem has sent groups of a dozen students on trips every spring and fall; this fall 80 will participate from across the U.S. as well as countries including Spain, Singapore, Brazil, Germany and Zimbabwe.

Because of the high interest in the U.S. presidential election in November, Carpe Diem is making special provisions to accommodate their participants, many of whom will be voting for the first time.

The possibility of not being able to vote while oversees was a worry for Amit Gordon, for instance, a Wilson High School graduate who’s headed to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Honduras with Carpe Diem this fall.

“That was the biggest concern I had,” he said.

So Carpe Diem worked with the U.S. State Department to assist not only its own travelers, but the 150,000 students expected to participate in overseas programs this fall.

The state department subsequently launched a Web site, studentsabroad.state.gov, which offers guidance on topics such as health care, embassy locations, travel documentation and voting assistance. Students may register to vote from their home state, download absentee ballots and read up on the candidates via democratsabroad.org and republicansabroad.org.

The state department site gives great comfort to Gordon, who is looking forward to his trip despite his other nagging anxiety Carpe Diem can’t do much about.

“I’m really comfortable being away from home,” he said. “But my biggest fear is bugs — I hate big bugs.”
jenniferanderson@portlandtribune.com
The Portland Tribune, July 23, 2008

 

 

BALTIMORE EXAMINER, JUNE 7, 2008

By Andrea Farnum
Examiner Correspondent

A growing number of high school and college students are emulating a long established British tradition of opting out of the rat race and taking a “gap year” to travel abroad and experience other cultures. The idea to delay the approach of school or work can be appealing to wanna-be travelers. “I knew if I didn’t do it I would regret if forever,” said Charlene Rossi, an account executive from Silver Spring. “The year after college that I spent in South America was the best learning experience I’ve ever had.”

For Brice and Naomi King of Towson, their gap year, which took them to more than 18 countries, came after their wedding when they decided to opt out of the work force, sell everything they own and travel the world for a year. “We used frequent flier miles for our air travel and asked wedding guests to help us fund our trip in lieu of gifts,” said Brice.

Some choose a more structured approach of a gap year by participating in formalized programs. “We cap our gap year groups at 12 students and two staff because traveling abroad can sometimes be intense,” said Ethan Knight, founder of Carpe Diem International. “We get a lot of students that are burned out from academia and that are looking for substance and meaning in their lives.”

With a fast globalizing world, seeing how others live can be eye opening for many gap year participants. “We take some our groups to remote parts of the world and let them interact with people who may not have electricity or a phone,” said Knight. “After a few days you can actually hear something click for participants who realize that people can be genuinely happy without MTV, Internet or cell phones.”

After a globetrotting year that started in Samoa and ended in Ecuador, King still finds it difficult to go to his nine-to-five job. “It was a life altering experience. We now hope to do it again but this time with kids.”

June 7, 2008 - Baltimore Examiner