Katherine Stievater, Founder, Gap Year Solutions
Not to be cliché, but this is a time that people tend to focus on being thankful and grateful. One week from today I will be sitting around my Thanksgiving table with my four boys (all of whom have taken Gap Years, BTW) and my wonderful husband. A tradition we have is to go around the table and share what we are grateful for. I’ll go a little early. Mine is a simple answer, really. I am grateful and blessed to have found my way into the Gap Year world.
This past week reminded me how far my role in the Gap Year movement has come. On Tuesday night, thanks to generous support from a Boston-area high school, we registered 135 people for a Gap Year information session. These families came from 13 different schools, and brought a genuine interest in learning more. Then Wednesday night I was in a virtual classroom in Denver teaching about Gap Years as part of the school’s Future Planning Night. And today I shared insights and helped lead a discussion about Gap Years with 50 college counselors.
At the same time I am seeing record level of interest in learning more from families and school counselors, some long-running Gap Year programs are having difficulty filling spring 2025 sessions. And the organization running Gap Year fairs to promote programs is fielding half the number of locations compared to five years ago. Perhaps while interest is growing, what motivates students to consider taking a Gap Year – and what they want to spend their time doing – is changing?
When I entered the Gap Year industry 10 years ago, I did so to help serve the student who was not just interested in global travel and global volunteering. While promoting global citizenship is important, I had my own college age students at the time, and as a parent, my focus was on whether my sons were college-ready. Could they take advantage of all that a college experience could offer? Would they get out of their dorm room and engage in campus life – like join a club or an intramural team? Would they feel comfortable going to a professor’s office hours?
I have dedicated my Gap Year practice to helping students learn life skills, gain confidence, and discover new interests. After their Gap time, our students have a better sense of who they are, are more independent and more confident in taking academic risks and “putting themselves out there” and engaging in their college, instead of just “going through the process” or “getting through” college.
I am truly grateful to be able to work with so many young people as they grow into the next phase of their lives. They are truly amazing, all of them, and I am so humbled that they entrust me to help them create such memorable and transformational Gap Year experiences.
