Your Child & Their Gap Year
We have advised your child that researching all of his/her options about Gap Year programs is imperative to a successful Gap Year experience. You will want to do your own research as well. You may have concerns about your child taking a year off before going to college or taking a semester, or year, off during college. We hope that our web-site and your additional research will allay any of your fears. The concept of a Gap Year has begun to gain momentum in the United States after being very popular in other parts of the world for the past few decades. Almost all schools will defer a student’s acceptance if the student presents a thoughtful plan for his/her Gap Year. Anecdotal research has shown that students who take a Gap Year enter, or return to, college with a better sense of self and are more focused and motivated in their studies.
Below you will find a brief list of resources about American students taking Gap Years and the positive benefits of that time; both for the student and for post-secondary institutions. We believe that our fall semester program is the ideal way for your child to begin his/her gap year.
From the Brown Ledge Gap Year experience your child will:
Through Documentaries
- learn documentary technique. Novices will learn how to use equipment and software; those with more experience will hone their skills and deepen their understanding of documentary style and structure.
- learn how to think through documentary production, how to frame a question, how to elicit needed information, how to construct an argument out of other people’s words and images. In short, how to understand the world and communicate that understanding.
Through Community Service and/or Internships
- learn about the issue that is at the heart of his/her work, whether it is immigration, homelessness, law or broadcasting, she/he will learn about that issue directly and personally.
- learn the skills that a particular job requires, whether it is teaching or construction or office work.
- learn how s/he feels about the work. Your child may discover from working in a clinic that she does not want to go to medical school, or he may learn from working in a classroom that teaching is the job for him.
Through Living and Traveling
- learn the basic life skills of cooking and cleaning and living with other people, and will learn how to make smart decisions about how to live his/her life.
- learn how to adapt to, and navigate, a new city.
- learn about three very different parts of America, and about what a big and varied country it is.
Resources On Gap Year
For additional information, please contact our director, Timothy Shuker-Haines at 1-888-74-FOCUS or directorREMOVETHISBEFORESENDING@brownledgegapyear.org.