Give and Go
What Global Citizen Year offers requires more than travel. Participants spend a year with a family in a rural area of Africa or Latin America. The program is designed for students as a bridge year between high school and college. Those who are accepted must raise $2,500 from commitments in their own community, and then […]
Go West, Young People! And East!
I’M delighted to announce that the winner of my 2014 “win-a-trip” contest is … Oh, hang on. Maybe I should first exhort students to travel on their own — and cite Utah. Utah may well be the most cosmopolitan state in America. Vast numbers of young Mormons — increasingly women as well as men — […]
Tufts University Offers Financial Aid for Students’ Year Off
BOSTON — Tufts University will launch a program next autumn to help cash-strapped students take a year off to travel and perform public service before starting their undergraduate classes. The program puts Massachusetts-based Tufts among a handful of American colleges offering to pay for a ‘gap year’ to explore the world and absorb different cultures […]
Seeing Value in ‘Gap Years,’ Tufts University Offers to Pay
By Zach Schonfeld When Gregory Kristoff graduated high school in 2010, he opted not to start college immediately. Instead, he spent the better part of a year studying Chinese in Beijing and then Dalian, China. Then he went to Peru — and then, after a full year of such gallivanting, he began his freshman year at Harvard. […]
New York Times Features Groundbreaking College Partnership
Sometimes, after a hectic high school experience overshadowed by a competitive — or perhaps, disappointing — college admissions process, seniors just need a break. The idea of a gap year between high school and college could be tempting to students who are not ready to transition to the next level of education. And there are […]
College students fill gap year with meaning
Lucy Blumberg was the classic Lowell High School student. The San Francisco teen strove for straight A’s and fell short by one B – in driver’s education – and was accepted into the prestigious Northwestern University, her first step to becoming a doctor. But by the time the college acceptance letter arrived in the mailbox, […]
Global Citizen Year: Creating A Path For Budding Social Entrepreneurs
After high school, Abby Falik was frustrated at her limited options for service. Now her organization sends young, engaged leaders to work on projects around the world before they head off to college. When Global Citizen Year founder Abby Falik was 18, she wanted to enroll in the Peace Corps instead of going straight […]
Teach for the World
Nicholas Kristof highlights Global Citizen Year as a model for engaging young Americans in global issues. A drumroll, please. In a moment, the winner of my 2010 “win-a-trip” contest. But first, a message from the sponsor that’s me. A generation ago, the most thrilling program for young people was the Peace Corps. Today, […]
A Student’s ‘Gap Year’ Need Not Break The Bank
NEW YORK — When you’ve saved for years, an announcement that your child wants to take a year off before heading to college can be scary. There’s the fear she’ll never find the motivation to go to school. The concern she’ll fall behind. And the prospect of paying for an expensive program to fill the […]
Global Citizen Year: An Alternative Peace Corps
Abby Falik was dismayed when she discovered she couldn’t join the Peace Corps after graduating from high school only because she hadn’t yet turned eighteen. So she started a Peace Corps of her own. Listen to the interview with Abby on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Here on Earth” show.
