Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
Category
Class Year
Country
Passion
Ely Kadish
2012-07-10
Life places many questions before us, shaping and molding our way of thinking and acting. Some question the “why” and others question the “how” but in the end the “so what!” is all that really matters. In the end, a life is not measured by the atoms or the bonds but by the path and...
Read More
Decisions
Mackenzie McMillen
2012-07-10
I recently opened my very first debit card. As you would expect, my parents cautioned me against using it frivolously and reminded me that it’s easy to loose track of how much one spends when the money isn’t tangible. I took heed and promised myself I wouldn’t get carried away. Still, I was eager to...
Read More
The Call of Adventure
Kimberly Reed-Hyman
2012-07-10
Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to explore, see different places, and experience what else is out there in the world. Adventure called to me even at a young age, and now that I am old enough, I am ready to answer its call. I never knew why I had this urge, but something deep inside...
Read More
A Year to…
Trevor Porter
2012-07-03
A gap year between high school and college can be whatever you make of it. It could be a transformative experience where you venture off somewhere you’ve never been before to discover yourself. It could be a year where you work to regain focus and passion for learning. It could be a year where you...
Read More
Capstone Video
Priyanka Rao
2012-06-28
This is a video I made for my Global Citizen Year Capstone. I hope you enjoy seeing the world as I saw it this past year! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-MYEiK5wIM
Read More
Returning Home
Joan Hanawi
2012-06-23
The expressions of utter shock and surprise mirrored my own smiling face as I laughed at the absurdity of it all. An Indonesian girl living in Huntington Beach, California speaking Ecuadorian Spanish. But that’s what happens when you become a Global Citizen Year Fellow. If I could choose one word to describe Global Citizen Year...
Read MoreReflections on The Blue Sweater
Priyanka Rao
2012-06-23
The Entrepreneur steps onto the scene of the developing world, and snaps her trained fingers… only to find that third-world countries don’t follow the same rhythm she does. As Jacqueline Novogratz begins down the path of international development, she faces many of the trials we do as Global Citizen Year (GCY) Fellows: high school graduates...
Read More
Walking in Another’s Shoes
Jacklyn Joy Byrd
2012-06-23
Before my gap year in Ecuador, I believed my capacity for moral imagination was above average. I constantly told myself, “I’m so empathetic that I naturally enter the other’s shoes!” As a slightly cocky high-school graduate, maybe this was true. However, I had challenged myself to become a global citizen. During the first week of...
Read More
The Cookbook Confessions
Sienna Walker
2012-06-15
Three. I have spent a total of three hours watching Food Network and I’m supposed to lead a cooking class? I’ll have it known that those three hours did, in fact, take place in the gym, without option, while working out. Now with it established that I am no Rachael Ray or Bobby Flay or...
Read MoreSecond Sight
Kirin Gupta
2012-06-15
GCY fellowship is a perspective builder, like the best teachers, parents, and mentors. It is a year for each of us to take on that responsibility, individually, to expand our own worldviews and develop a second sight. The second sight of a student who has lived in a house without floors and eaten off of...
Read MoreBack Together
Taylor Lawson
2012-06-15
Before we all reunited, I had my doubts. After so many months and hardships, I wasn’t sure that all the fellows could be back together with the same family dynamic we’d had before we met. While the first day was awkward, we quickly fell back into our friendships, learning about how we’ve all changed, and...
Read More
House of Broken Crickets
Taylor Lawson
2012-06-15
Being back in the US, I’m rediscovering little things that I forgot about. One that comes to mind as I listen to a confused chirping from the corner, is the crickets. My family isn’t sure why, but our house attracts crickets. Often they have missing or crushed limbs. Others are babies, so small that you...
Read More