Gap Year Information

Going into my senior year of high school the idea taking a gap year for me was just that, an idea. But filling out the application for the Brownstein Fellowship alerted me to all the possibilities withheld in that idea. I ended up traveling to seven countries (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru, Italy, Portugal, France, and Iceland) and completing over 1000 hours of community service. To be honest, prior to my gap year I never put that much time into volunteering. But it ended up connecting me to people all across the world and proved to be very satisfying. My recommendation to future students who are on the edge of choosing whether or not to take a gap year to write an outline of a possible gap year schedule. Then when you’re looking at that schedule think would you rather be doing that or stuck in the same classrooms you’ve been in every year leading up to this point. Some of you may be scared of the impact taking a year off will have on your career. Some of you may be scared of living by yourself far away from home. Some of you might simply not see the merit in the venture. To all of you I have the same thing to say: Just go for it! I made an insane amount of connections to people all across the world. Your career will be anything but stunted after taking a gap year. No matter what you should have something to add to your resume, even if all you did was surf every single day. Being far from home may seem scary but that band aid eventually needs to get ripped off. I sadly still had daily contact with my mom through my phone but to some of you the possibility of keeping in contact with your family might be comforting. And to those of you who I still haven’t managed to convince about the advantages of the gap year I have a couple things to say about my experience. I was always young for my grade so one of the reasons I took the gap year was simply to mature. I was able to experiment with things like living by myself, working on myself without someone pushing me, and cooking. Also every time I tell an adult or someone in the corporate space about my gap year they congratulate me about how good of an idea it was to take. I have never once regretted taking a gap year and I truly feel that if you were to take one you wouldn’t either!

Taking a gap year was a very tough decision for me at the time. If I were to go back in time now, I would decide in a heartbeat. I chose to take a gap year during the pandemic with the goal of traveling to learn more about developmental disabilities around the world. Obviously, that felt pretty far out of reach in the summer of 2020. In the beginning, my gap year started out slow. Still under stay at home order, I started a remote internship with UCLA PEER's autism program and tutored programming which I was able to continue throughout my entire gap year. I am very lucky to have received the vaccine in January. There were very limited countries that were open and safe at the time. South Korea was one of the safest countries during the pandemic and was open as long as you followed all the strict quarantine rules. Traveling during the pandemic was definitely a unique experience. I was not allowed to even step out of my hotel room for 14 days. Unfortunately, all the programs in January 2021 were closed so I was pushed to find my own path. I will admit that every time I left on a plane for half way across the world I did not have much of a plan but that is what led me to the most memorable experiences. In Korea, I jumped around with different work exchanges teaching English. In March, I left for Thailand and volunteered at a single woman's home and school. I met the most kindhearted people in Thailand who changed my perspective in life. And in July I packed super light, bought a interrail pass and headed off to Europe. I was able to hit 9 countries: Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Croatia, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Iceland. I am still astonished by how much I was able to accomplish and I wouldn't be able to do any of it without the Brownstein Fellowship. I am certain that I will never forget my gap year!

I have always been someone who loves to immerse myself fully in what I am interested in, whether it be an instrument, a subject in school, a new sport, or any random activity.  I always knew that I wanted to take a gap year after high school to explore some of my interests, and I had to explore them out in the world and away from a rigorous school setting.  During the summer of 2020, I found an amazing outdoor medicine program in Montana where I received my EMT and WEMT licenses and a host of other outdoor certifications.  I got to be outside and explore my interest in medicine while most of my friends from Harvard-Westlake were taking classes on Zoom.  I was also able to learn from my peers in a very close-knit group in that program, and the ages ranged from 18 (me) to 38.  After finishing up in Montana, I moved to Portland, Oregon where I participated in a Jewish social justice gap year program with 23 other gap year students.  Living in two different houses a couple blocks away, we connected over our Judaism and our desire for social change.  We were able to experience being on the frontline of meaningful change, as we all worked two different internships.  One of them was building platforms, solar contraptions, and guardhouses for Portland’s houseless communities, and we worked alongside members of those communities to help create better living situations.  My other internship helped me gain professional experience, as I worked in the communications department for PCUN (Oregon’s farmworker union), translating testimonies, websites, and presentations into Spanish and creating pamphlets with different resources for marginalized farmworkers and immigrants.  To finish the year up, last summer I was a camp counselor at Camp Tawonga, a Jewish camp in beautiful Yosemite.  I worked with 10–12-year-olds to try and make their camp experiences as unforgettable as mine were when I was a camper.  The friends and connections I made throughout my entire gap year have truly changed my life for the better.  I wouldn’t change a single thing about my gap year and I feel a lot more prepared for the challenges and exploration at college.

My whole life I’ve been someone who jumped at the chance to take a new opportunity. To do something that sounded way better in my head than on paper and the next best option available. At the same time college seemed like a foreign concept that I wasn’t in the mood to begin. The decision to take a gap year only seemed natural. When deciding what to do, I wanted to be an adult and just live; so I opted to not be a part of a gap program. Who knew where life would take me so I left a lot of the year open ended. In September of 2019 I got certified as a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician in New Hampshire. The course was challenging but extremely fun and I met people I would never have thought of. For the rest of my gap year I was a part of the American Conservation Experience working on public lands all throughout the southwestern United States. There I would do things from building and testing mountain biking trails to spraying herbicide on invasive species. The work was challenging, and we spent most nights sleeping in tents, but I’ve made friends there and learned things that I will have with me the rest of my life. The decision to take a gap year in reality isn’t that big - college will come - but the decisions a gap year will provide you with and beg you to take are. My gap year was an enabler. It extended my horizon to places I couldn’t imagine before and it continues to do so even though it’s over. You never know what you’ll miss if you don’t do anything. 

I had never planned on taking a gap year, but, though Covid cut it in half, I would absolutely never change my decision. This year I grew and experienced things in a new way, and I am a more well rounded and interesting person because of it!

I planned my year around goals that I had: to improve my Spanish, to improve my skills outside, to have some kind of internship to help me decide what to pursue in college, and to get my Danish citizenship (I’m English but want a passport for the EU following Brexit).

I worked all summer at my climbing gym as a coach, instructor, and on the maintenance staff to save up money for the year. Then I went to Spain alone. I first took a 2 week sailing course because I’ve always wanted to get better at it. During the course I met lots of people who I am still in touch with a year later. The group ranged from a 17 year old French boy, to a 67 year old Kenyan farmer! From there I went up to the Pyrenees and stayed with a family in an extremely isolated house for a month. I found them through a website called WWOOF. While there I lived in a yurt on their land in the mountains, and everyday we drove the 15 minutes down a crazy bumpy track to their local school of 11 students. There I helped to teach (all in Spanish) and was even able to design and teach some of my own lesson plans. After the month was over, I went to Madrid, via Zaragoza, for an internship with a sustainable product design company. Early in the summer I had emailed a lot of small design businesses in Spain and heard back from no one (unsurprising given I had only just graduated high school!), so I decided to spend the next few months as an AuPair outside of Madrid. Right before I was leaving the mountains, my favorite of the companies emailed asking if I was still interested, and if I could interview. I ended up getting the position and changing my plans entirely. Having just over a week to find an apartment in central Madrid was pretty stressful, but I ended up in an apartment with 14 other students all on gap years or studying abroad. I am so glad that I allowed myself this level of spontaneity and flexibility. The internship was fantastic. My Spanish improved significantly, and I learned about how I might want to incorporate design into my future career. Living in a communal environment full of travelling, studying young people was so fun! I also spent a lot of my time in Madrid volunteering with Extinction Rebellion, a climate change activism organization. There I was pushed out of my comfort zone everyday to plan events and publicly speak in Spanish. I also took some weekend solo trips to other cities and national parks in Spain. Booking only a bus and a place to sleep, I just spent hours walking miles down any street that looked interesting. I discovered tiny old churches and strange museums and beautiful courtyards of flowers. With this level of independence and unknown comes a lot of challenges, but it was so rewarding to solve the problems that came my way. I met friends from all over the world and really, really grew.

After travelling with my brother for a couple of weeks after Christmas around Europe, I went to Chile with a program called Where There Be Dragons. The goals of the program were language and cultural immersion, rugged travel, and outdoor education. While in Chile, our group of 12 students and 3 instructors backpacked through Parque Patagonia while learning about conservation and the concept of “wilderness”. We also had a short climbing section, and got to know some fascinating locals while staying in different hostels. Unfortunately Covid began so just after we arrived in Peru for homestays and more trekking, we had to quarantine in a hostel for 2 weeks before we were able to figure out evacuation flights home. I am really sad that I didn’t get the experiences that I had planned in Peru and Denmark, but I tried to make the most of having so much unplanned time at home. I cooked a lot, sewed clothes, and built some furniture that I’m pretty proud of. I read more books than I have ever read, and kept up with my Spanish by taking classes 3 times a week over Skype with a teacher who our group met while stuck in that hostel in Peru! I also got up to the mountains a lot to backpack with friends, and bought myself a road bike to explore the city.

Planning my year around meaningful goals made all of my Covid-cancellations painful because I couldn’t accomplish everything that I wanted to, but it made the first half of the year so absolutely rewarding. Having goals also makes the planning process easier because you essentially have a rubric. I am also so glad that I allowed myself time and flexibility to change plans and be spontaneous. The best lessons this year came from just jumping at any opportunity that came my way.

This year I was the happiest that I have ever been. I am a fuller person for having taken a gap year, 10/10 would recommend.

During my gap year, I first spent 3 months in the fall traveling through the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica on a program focused on public health and sustainability. We lived in home-stays, worked on local service projects, got on a lot of outdoor adventures, practiced a new language and experienced new cultures. In the Spring, I was in New Zealand for four months. The first three months I interned for a startup incubator in Wellington, and the last month I spent traveling around the country staying with friends I’d made out there. 

I like to say that I learned about myself during the first part of my gap year and about people during the second part. 

Central America was a scary place for me at first. I went from living in the concrete jungle of Los Angeles to living in mountains, rainforests, and developing cities. I still recall the fear I had when I lived in my first homestay in a tiny Dominican village called Angostura. I stayed in a little wooden hut at night and while working on building aqueducts with the team during the day. 

I had never done the time of manual labor that we were doing and being so far away from anything remotely familiar scared me. However, within a week, I’d gotten used to the scenery and started to notice the beauty of simple living, food made with love, and the kind demeanor of the locals.

After the homestay, we continued on the new cities ranging from the busy capital to other rural areas where we hiked mountains and snorkeled in clear water. We worked to build latrines in the Bateyes, which are some of the most impoverished places in the world. 

While there, I became really in tune with my mind and body. I recognized the food, exercise, and rest that my body needed to fend off foreign bacteria and sickness. I was able to determine the personal emotional connections that I needed to be my best self, and all of this really helped me to know what I needed. 

After a month of a half in the Dominican Republic, we flew to Costa Rica. The Dominican Republic is rowdy, in your face, eclectic, and musical. Costa Rica is laid back, relaxed and clean. The national mantra is “Pura Vida”, which roughly translates to pure life. 

The main thing I learned from Costa Rica was the beauty of the natural world and living sustainably. The main highlights here would have to be living with the Bribri indigenous cacao farmer community.

Living with the Bribri was a surreal experience. It took a 30-minute canoe ride down a river into the rainforest to get to the village. The Bribri lived without electricity or wifi. They lived off the land and harvested the cacao they grew to turn in to chocolate. They would take this into a nearby city to sell for anything else we need. Here we got a chance to live the rainforest life for two weeks. We slept under mosquito nets in wooden huts. Those sleeps there were some of the most refreshing I’ve ever gotten. Without artificial light deep in the rainforest, it is pitch black around 8:00pm and by 8:30pm my body felt like it was completely shut down, relaxed. We woke up to the sunrise with the sounds of birds singing and monkeys hollering. There’s a refreshing mist leaving as the sun rises over the trees. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more refreshed waking up in the rainforest.

Living with the Bribri made me think a lot about what it means to be “developed”. These people lived with far less than any Americans I know, but they are happier and healthier than most people I know. Happy because they spend all their time focused on what they love: their family and the nature they live on. Healthy because they grow all of the food they eat. I certainly felt their joy and fulfillment staying with them, and it helped me to see beauty in simplicity. 

For the second part of my gap year, I knew I wanted to be in the “South Pacific” region, and that I wanted to get some entrepreneurial experience of some sort. Long story short, I found an amazing startup incubator called Creative HQ based in Wellington, New Zealand. Here, as part of the marketing team, I got to work with startup founders from different amazing companies and saw what it’s like to start one’s own business. The companies ranged from a sustainable pineapple leather bag company to a blockchain payment system that redirects merchant fees to a charity of your choice. Most of the companies in the incubator were social enterprises that made purpose and benefit their mission. 

My biggest takeaway from my time working here was starting to understand how people think and why they act the way they do. I was the youngest person in the whole office, and everyone knew more than I did so it was up to me to learn as much as I could as quickly as possible. 

It was a strange position to be in at first, but I can now appreciate learning on the fly and how willing people were to talk to someone who would listen. 

I also had an opportunity to participate in a youth accelerator program that the company ran during the time I was interning, and here I got to meet and become close to 16 Kiwis (New Zealanders). After my three-month internship ended, I spent the last month traveling around the country staying with friends up there. Kiwis pride themselves on being nice people, and they blessed me with some unmatched hospitality. I got to explore all the major cities and some of the most beautiful beaches and mountains in the world.

By the time I came back home, I had improved my Spanish skills, explored new cultures, lived with people completely different from myself, had a great professional experience, and got up to all kinds of crazy adventures. 

I felt very comfortable and confident heading into college, and my experience made the transition seamless. I was extra motivated to do well in my classes and had a new zeal for trying things that would get me out of my comfort zone. It’s made college a blast so far.

In the September after I graduated high school, I went to Thailand, where I spent two months traveling with a group of gap year kids and two high school seniors all around the country. Though I didn't love the program, Thailand was incredible, completely different than any place I had ever been. I had wanted to travel by myself, but my parents were insistent that at least for the first part of my year, I go with some sort of organized program. I actually would strongly recommend this, especially for people like me, who – at the time – had never stayed in hostels or seriously traveled alone. After the program, my mom met me in Thailand and we spent the next three weeks traveling through Cambodia, Vietnam and Japan. After resting a little when I went home, I started working as an intern on the  TV show the OC. After a month there, I got hired as a production assistant in the writers' office. I stayed there for a little over three months. I would strongly suggest adding some sort of work component to a year off. I think of everything I did, it made me reevaluate what I wanted out of my college education the most. After that, I went to a place that basically serves as half a hostel/ half a surf and language school in Costa Rica by myself. I went with some of the people I met there on little excursions to other areas. Even though I really liked it there, I was only able to stay for a couple of weeks due to family reasons. To plan my year off, my family hired a company that specializes in that sort of thing called Interim. It is run by Holly Bull. The main reason we did this was because I didn't really know anyone who had taken time off, and didn't really know where to start looking. If you have other resources, like the one that Harvard-Westlake is putting together, I don't think it is really necessary to hire one of these sorts of companies as they are expensive and not that helpful. I think the best way to plan a great year is to talk to people who have taken time off. This will give you interesting ideas not only of what sort of things you might want to do, but what you might not be interested in as well.