Going for the Gap Year

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Cheddar

Abby Falik, Founder and CEO of ‘Global Citizen Year,’ discusses the company’s mission to make taking a gap year ‘aspirational’ for all students. Falik adds that the company’s goal is to have students develop a new language while getting a new perspective, and showing off what being an American means to other parts of the world.

Global Citizen Year offers programs in Ecuador, Senegal, India, and Brazil. Falik adds that the focus of the company is on impact, noting that even though the program is expensive, it is able to choose students, regardless of their financial status, through scholarship programs. The company is a non-profit, and is able to re-invest some tuition costs back into its programs.Falik explains how selective the process is, but that ‘Global Citizen Year’ does not look at grades or test scores in the way that colleges and universities do. She notes that the program is seeking students that are “persuasive, passionate, and hungry” for a year of impact.