Archives: Fellow Updates

Outside my comfort zone

Cecily Montgomery

2013-08-02

“There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy.”  This is the quote I repeat to myself as I prepare for my journey to Ecuador.  I could, like most of my peers, go straight to college.  This path would be the easier one for...

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The Value of Protips

Libby Parker-Simkin

2013-07-30

Occasionally, I get in over my head. I like to try new things, so sometimes I apply, sign up, and volunteer for things I am not necessarily prepared for. In some cases I can figure out what to do and adapt, but in others my lack of experience causes problems. On one adventure, my youth...

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Blank Journal

Christina Joyce

2013-07-26

When I was younger, and I got a new journal for a birthday or Christmas, I would flip through the blank pages and wonder about what I would write about, what the future held. I am getting a similar feeling now. I can hardly believe that for the first time in my life, I am not going back to...

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Who am I

Jocelyn Aguayo

2013-07-24

Hi everyone, my name is Jocelyn Aguayo and I am from Oakland, California. The idea of me taking a gap year before I heading off to college all started last summer when I went to Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The purpose of the trip was to focus on education awareness in the world. I had the chance to experience...

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Introduction

Aden Gilmour

2013-07-24

My name is Aden Gilmour and I will be going to Ecuador this September. I did not get the idea to take a bridge year until I started my college visits. After touring a number of schools, I was sitting with an admissions officer and they asked me if had considered doing a gap year program. I had...

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Narwhals Go To Ecuador

Carol Brown

2013-07-24

This time last year, a burly black guy from Brooklyn, also known as to me as teddy bear and best friend, nicknamed me ‘white chocolate’. I began learning about the Black Power movement from a mixed race woman born in Chicago at a time when my ancestors in Tennessee may still have been racist. A...

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Piranhas Won’t Eat You

Joanna Shieh

2013-07-23

As I anxiously await my bridge year to Santa Catarina, Brazil, my friend Idalina sends me a CNN article titled, “10 things to know before visiting Brazil”, by Joe Robison. I read the article, over and over again, laughing and becoming even more intrigued by Brazil’s interesting, and crazy culture. There are no introverts in Brazil. When I visited Brazil in...

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