‘A great way to allow students time to reset, reflect, enjoy new experiences and make a plan for the future that they are truly excited about.’
Taking a gap year or years after high school can offer students the opportunity to travel the world; volunteer close to home or around the globe, enroll in the military, do a post-graduation year at a secondary school to improve their athletic or academic standing, or work to build up a nest egg for college expenses. The reasons are as varied as are the students who opt for a gap year.
War interrupts – but doesn’t end – one Barringtonite’s gap year experience
Despite spending much of his gap year in a war-torn country – Israel – after graduating from Barrington High School in 2023, Simon Robbins has no regrets. Calling the experience positive, he said, “Israel is like a second home to me.”
In the immediate aftermath following October 7, when 1,200 Israeli residents were killed or taken hostage by Hamas, Robbins and his American friends queried Israeli friends: “Should we be worried?” Once they learned that “something wasn’t right,” and attacks from Hezbollah began, Robbins and some American friends decided to leave, fearing that they might be trapped in Israel if they stayed too long. However, Robbins had to spend 30 hours in the Tel Aviv airport before he could get a flight to Greece and, eventually, make his way back to Rhode Island.
Finding it difficult to be home in Rhode Island and to watch the developing Gaza/Israel war, Robbins returned to his “second home” in early December 2023. Of his parents, he said, “They supported my decision to go back; they recognized that Israel was where I belonged.”
Robbins’ gap year was not his first visit to Israel. Between his sophomore and junior years in high school, Robbins attended a month-long initiative in Israel, sponsored by the National Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY). “It’s a place I loved; I wanted to go back and connect with my Judaism,” he said.
During his gap year, he participated in Young Judea Year Course, which Robbins believes is Israel’s oldest gap year program. There, he lived in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and learned how to code. Robbins knew he wanted to do a gap year in Israel after his summer experience and credits his grandmother with finding the Young Judea program for him. Although Robbins found the coding courses – all held in English – useful, Robbins said that the war disrupted the Hebrew language classes.
A multi-year gap experience leads to new career focus
A part-time job – during her first year of remote college studies – opened up unexpected opportunities for Nadya Lehnert, who graduated Cranston High School East in 2020. Months after COVID hit our shores, Lehnert was attending classes remotely at McGill University in Montreal (where she was majoring in biochemistry) and working part-time for a landscaping company, which prompted her to consider a career in conservation. Of her remote learning experience, she said, “I was living at home and wasn’t having a great time; I wasn’t engaged [with my studies].”
Through “puttering around” online, Lehnert, who wanted to work on a fire watchtower, found Conservation Corps, a conservation opportunity she discovered through AmeriCorps.
During her first gap year, Lehnert worked for American Conservation Experience in Sacramento, CA. “They take everyone – high school graduates; people with rough backgrounds; college students; we were provided housing and a modest weekly stipend. It was a great [first step]; I didn’t have a car or much work experience beyond retail and landscaping.”
Nearly three years later, she is a team leader for an emergency response team of four to six other individuals with AmeriCorps in St. Louis (MO), which is responsible for, among other things, prescribed burns, cutting down hazardous trees near roads, removing invasive species or responding to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Initially intending to return to college after a one-year gap year, Lehnert said, “I love what I do and I got engaged [in this service work].”
How did gap years come to be?
Go Overseas, an online resource that serves to educate, inspire and empower people to pursue perspective-changing travel, notes that gap years are more common in Europe and Australia than they are in the United States. The idea of a gap year originated in the United Kingdom and is considered a rite of passage.
During the 1600s and 1700s, wealthy young people enjoyed “The Grand Tour,” a year-long trip around Europe’s cultural centers, which was considered an essential element of a gentlemen’s education, according to the Gap Year Association, an organization whose goal is to empower more people to access transformative gap year experiences. Fast forward to the 20th century, when the gap year movement gained ground in Great Britain. After World War II, all young men were conscripted at age 18 for two years of National Service in a branch of the armed services, unless they were granted a deferment to continue their graduation and [then enlist] after graduation.”
In contrast to the British model, the U.S. approach has traditionally focused on studying hard to get into a good college and achieve academically to then transition to a career or graduate school program. Consider: In 2021, more than five percent of accepted university applicants in the United Kingdom deferred admission for one year while only about three percent of first-time U.S. college freshmen did so, according to Go Overseas.
An ocean-centric gap year opportunity in Rhode Island
Newport’s IYRS School of Technology & Trades (IYRS) is a nonprofit school offering hands-on marine trades and advanced manufacturing education and training for adults of all ages. “Three of our four programs are less than one year long and fit nicely into gap year planning,” said Karen Wehr, director of admissions. While there’s currently no gap year program specifically designed for students graduating from high school or college, IYRS’ marine systems programs allows students to earn six certifications in a six-month time frame. This exposes students to several possible areas of specialty, including marine electrical systems and diesel engines.”
IYRS is also developing a foundational program that will introduce students to all four of the school’s programs in a six- or nine-month time frame. In addition to Marine Systems, they include Boatbuilding & Restoration, Composites Technology and Digital Modeling & Fabrication.
A member of the GAP Year Association since December 2022, IYRS focuses on close connections between and among students and faculty, said Wehr. “It’s not just the practical skills students come away with; it’s also about working side-by-side with people of all ages and from wildly different backgrounds,” she said. “Connecting and communicating on a daily basis with classmates and instructors, students work through problems, take risks, find solutions, work hard toward a common goal, and have fun in the process.”
While tuition ranges from $22,000 to $25,000, IYRS offers need-based and merit scholarships; most students complete the FAFSA (federal application for financial aid) for need-based aid; 529 plans can also be used to pay tuition. Nearly 80% of IYRS students receive some financial assistance.
In Wehr’s two years with IYRS, she has witnessed a pattern among the students who thrive there. “Whether they are a recent high school or college graduate or someone looking to change careers, these students love their days here because they can see physical evidence of their work,” she said. “It’s a very rewarding feeling.” Wehr said that IYRS helps students develop hard and soft skills that take them into exciting industries, including marine, aerospace, automotive, sporting goods, wind energy and entrepreneurship.
Who is drawn to gap year experiences?
“In my experience, students who opt for a travel/adventure gap year crave a change from learning about people and places from textbooks to firsthand experiences where they can interact in person with new cultures and people,” said Ann Infante, director of college counseling at Providence Country Day School (PCD), an independent college preparatory school in East Providence. “They are seeking meaningful and authentic experiences.” Infante, who has counseled high school students in Europe, Asia and the United States for more than two decades, finds that students taking gap years tend to accept risks and seek to broaden their experiences and perspectives before settling down to their post-secondary education and/or training.
Students who are unsure about future studies or who simply need a break between high school and post-secondary education/training may also benefit from a gap year. While staying home to play video games is not a meaningful gap year experience, a year spent working in any kind of job, including in the service or hospitality sectors, for example, might help recent grads discover what interests them and allow them to make more informed choices about a college course of study or a vocational training program, said Infante.
“Depending on how resourcefully a student wants to live, a gap year’s cost could range from almost nothing if they plan to live at home and work, to the price of a plane ticket if they volunteer for an organization like World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) where participants get room and board in exchange for volunteering on an organic farm, to a cost nearly equal that of college tuition if they choose a highly curated packaged program,” explained Infante.
Some expert advice; resources
Infante has found that some students prefer to participate in a formal gap year program, such as those offered by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) to learn skills, such as wilderness medicine. Others prefer to travel from hostel to hostel and make plans as they go. “There has to be a certain level of trust between parents and their children,” she said. “Parents often want their children to develop and present a plan with safety features including ways they can extricate themselves from emergencies.”
Infante encourages students who are considering a gap year between high school and college to go through the traditionally timed search and application process for college before departing for their gap year. “They need not accept those offers of admission, (unless they defer their acceptance for a year which means they must attend that college when they conclude their gap year as the college is holding a place for them) but they’ll be well-equipped to submit new applications during their gap year,” she said.
The high-stakes college admissions process – pursuing top grades in academically rigorous courses while building an impressive resume – leaves some students mentally, emotionally and intellectually exhausted. “A gap year is a great way to allow students time to reset, reflect, enjoy new experiences and make a plan for the future that they are truly excited about,” said Infante.
Students and families exploring gap year options might visit Bryant University’s Amica Center for Career Exploration.
The pros appear to outweigh the cons
Asked about the upsides – which significantly numbered the downsides – of her gap years’ experience, Lehnert had much to say. “I’m so glad I did it; I got tons of work and leadership experience, training and FEMA- and forest service-certifications here in St. Louis. I worked with many partner agencies and got exposed to so many career paths and different options,” she said, calling it “essentially a free education.” She added, “I have formed a really good network – and Americorps has an excellent alumni network. Since you get jobs by knowing someone, I’d have a ton of job options, if I wasn’t going back to school.”
After weighing her two options, Lehnert has decided to continue her college studies at Northern Arizona University this fall, where she plans to major in forestry/fire ecology. Her career goal is to work in conservation or wildfire protection.
Explaining that her gap years might have cost her time and money vis-a-vis college, Lehnert said, “I’ll be a transfer student [at Northern Arizona University] and credits can get weird; I may have to reapply. I feel that I’ve missed out on some social experiences with my age peers, who graduated from college in the spring of 2024. I have a bit of a disconnect with them – they tell stories about college and I don’t have those references.”
Always academically inclined, Lehnert didn’t believe she was either socially or mechanically inclined. Through her AmeriCorps work, she discovered – or developed – both those skills. “I do well meeting new people and networking,” she said. “And, I had to figure out how to fix things, like chainsaws and brush- cutters.”
“I wish that high schools offered options other than entering the military or enrolling in college,” said Lehnert. “I encourage people [who might be considering a gap year or after graduating from college] to look into Americorps; it helps you figure out what you want. I believe service opportunities are great opportunities whenever you take them.”
Why a gap year?
“I knew my years in college would be very busy, and I wanted to learn about myself and explore the world,” said Robbins. He plans to major in robotics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Meeting people in Israel who became Robbins’ two closest friends was a big plus of the gap year program, as was exploring a different country with people he’d not met before. “I learned to become more confident, and learned a lot more about myself,” said Robbins, of his gap year experience. “I lived by myself; I can go through [tough experiences] alone or with people; and war broke out and I felt alright.”
Asked what advice he might offer someone considering a gap year, he said, “Before you go to college, why not experience a year growing and learning about yourself and the world?”
And, parents’ worries that their gap-year children may fall off the academic track may be misplaced. Independent research reported by the Gap Year Association found: “Taking a gap year had a significant positive impact on students’ academic performance in college… in the United Kingdom and in the United States.”
The high-stakes college admissions process – pursuing top grades in academically rigorous courses while building an impressive resume – leaves some students mentally, emotionally and intellectually exhausted. “A gap year is a great way to allow students time to reset, reflect, enjoy new experiences and make a plan for the future that they are truly excited about,” said Infante.
Author’s note: I was one of those students who had no interest in continuing my academic education without a break. In 1972, the year I graduated high school, I had no idea what I wanted to study in college. Through traditional research, I found a program in Israel where volunteers lived and worked on a kibbutz and studied Hebrew and Israeli history. It was the first time I’d been anywhere where no one knew any of my family members or me; figuring out who I was and what mattered to me was extremely valuable. Although my mother was sure my decision to take a year off from academia would mean I’d never enroll in college, I finished college in three-plus years and eventually earned a law degree, too.
