High school seniors have so much on their plates between finding colleges and choosing potential career paths. As a result, we at Common Ground have an interest in our senior class and what they are doing after high school. We interviewed seniors who are taking on gap years for many different reasons. We asked them about preparedness and if they felt as though they were ready to take on this new chapter in their lives.
We first interviewed Senior Luke Hamel. After asking him why he chose the gap year path he said, “I really want to play football in college. I started school a year early, this makes me feel the need for an extra year to catch up to the rest of my peers so that I’m not at a disadvantage athletically.”
Luke plans on staying in Vermont at his current job, working on both himself and his finances. Post gap year Luke plans on attending a university. “One of the main pros will be that I will be able to have a lot more money going into college, so I’ll have less debt.”
Luke’s gap year route is very common and popular among young adults fresh out of high school. It serves as a year to recollect mentally and financially while also preparing for college.
Although this is a wonderful idea, lots of people use the year as an opportunity to expand their horizons in the form of travel.
We next interviewed sSeniors Indy Metcalf, Callum MacCurtain, and Sidney Ritzinger, who plan on traveling through Europe, living out of backpacks, and exploring new cultures.
After asking why they chose this path Metcalf states, “I really wanna get out of here and have a crazy adventure while I’m still young, along with good company it will be a life changing experience.” The three students plan on flying into Austria, slowly making their way down the coast, and eventually ending up in Spain, where they will spend the majority of their time. They plan to spend their time backpacking, clubbing, and meeting new interesting people.
“Hopefully we can find ourselves and see what we really want to do with our lives.” A comment from MacCurtain, who seemed ecstatic for the life changing adventure ahead, along with his two companions.
Post gap year Indy is off to UVM, after committing and deferring a year for his excursion. Callum also plans to attend a university, but similarly to Indy, he wants to take a year off to see who he truly is. Ritzinger plans on committing himself to his father’s bakery in Utah after the year.
Conclusively, this insider perspective on student gap years help us in understanding some of the potential benefits that a gap year can bring. Although going straight into university is a perfectly reasonable strategy, some students prefer taking a year to explore themselves, the world around them, and truly find what they want to do with their lives. A gap year is a wonderful way to help with this, and is often the highlight of people’s lives. It serves as a stepping stone between the safety of adolescence and the challenging world ahead of them.
