Gap Year Radio

Ok, so here's what we know in September of 2020: There are a TON of students taking a gap year this year! And they are finding creative and meaningful ways to spend their year. We want to help students make the most of their gap year this year- especially if was unexpected. With that in mind, we invited College Success Expert Katy Oliveira to tell us about skill-building. Katy walks us through the...

Today on the pod we are rounding out Season Four of Gap Year Radio with a feature from your cohosts, Margo and Julia. We discuss gap year and college planning in the time of COVID, something we know so many high school seniors are grappling with this year. For the second half of the show you will hear from Drew Beasley, a gap year alumni who started college both with and without gap time, and spea...

Joining us on the podcast is Gary Robinson of P3 Mental Health. For the last twenty years Gary has been the Director of Counseling at Hartwick College, and has dedicated himself for over 30 years to helping high school and college-aged students to maximize their potential and overcome barriers to learning. He has also spent a number of years working with various gap year and summer programs for fi...

Franny Eremeeva's political journey started when she received an email from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign asking "Do you want to be a fellow?" She volunteered and interned on Clinton's presidential campaign during her gap year in addition to traveling to East Africa and Italy. She went on to intern at the Council on Foreign Relations and for Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (heard...

Gap year alum Ivy Jones spent her gap year expanding her knowledge and experience in environmental sustainability. She began her year with a Thinking Beyond Borders semester spent in Guatemala and Costa Rica where she learned about education systems, sustainable agriculture and eco-tourism. Inspired by her experience with TBB, she dove deeper into environmental issues with Ecoswell, a grassroots o...

When disaster strikes, we are all asked to give money to help in the immediate aftermath. But once a disaster zone shifts to a recovery zone, you are also able to donate time and your own sweat. In this episode, we speak with Josiah Johnson and Riley Piva, two incredible gap year alums who dedicated time to disaster recovery with the international relief organization All Hands and Hearts. They ope...

Andrew Buchanan joins us on the pod to discuss the Morehead Cain Scholarship, a program that provides a fully funded four year undergraduate degree at UNC Chapel Hill, as well as offers funding for a gap year. As the first gap year recipient of the scholarship, Andrew discusses with us his travels with his dad and brother, his NOLS course in Patagonia, and then his solo travels throughout Asia.

February is Gap Year Exploration Month! There are so many fun ways to explore the opportunities of the gap year option this month. This episode, we open Season Four by chatting all about Gap Year Exploration Month events happening every day this month! For more info and events schedule, go to www.gapyearexplorationmonth.com and follow the hashtag #explorethegapyear Gap Year Radio is running a cont...

Joining us on the pod is Charlie Taibi, CEO of the gap year program Year On, a three part program that helps students gain the confidence, clarity, and direction they need to succeed in college and beyond. Charlie discusses with us the core principles of the Year On program, how he got to where he is today, and inspires us with his recent working sabbatical. Charlie has big ideas for the future of...

Today we welcome bestselling author Lara Prior Palmer to talk about the gap year that inspired her book, Rough Magic. At the age of nineteen, Lara Prior-Palmer discovered a website devoted to “the world’s longest, toughest horse race”―an annual competition of endurance and skill that involves dozens of riders racing a series of twenty-five wild ponies across 1,000 kilometers of Mongolian grassland...

Marco Marsans spent his gap year on four continents, expanding his understanding of himself as well as the mechanisms that make the global economy run. Marco learned that by understanding the functions of micro and macro economies, he can affect positive change in the world. In his captivating interview, Marco details how traveling in Asia, working with refugees in Costa Rica and interning at a pr...

Joining us on the pod is Emma Hulme, who spent her post-college gap time with the American Conservation Experience (or ACE), a branch of Americorps that coordinates and trains volunteers to undertake practical environmental restoration projects in America’s national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and other public lands. Emma tells us about how her three month stint with ACE turned into nearly a...

Ever wonder what colleges think about the gap year option? This episode we are joined by Skyler Adams, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Northwestern University. Skyler tells about the gap year from the admissions perspective and how to think about a gap year as it relates to applying for college. We also discuss the ideal deferral plan, how deferring can impact financial aid and w...

This episode you are going to hear from Mackenzie Burke, a gap year alumni who participated in three distinct program during her gap time. She chats about the various passions and interests these three segments served for her, from the plains of East Africa, to researching life under the sea in Timor-Leste, to living on her own in Cusco Peru. Additionally she shares with us a bit more about the in...

Welcome to Season Three of Gap Year Radio! We are excited to bring you a brand new season of exciting interviews. Our premiere episode features three entrepreneurs who launched successful social ventures as a result of their gap year experiences. You’ll hear from Kris Cody of PAKA Apparel, Anika Funk of Banana Backpacks and Cecilia Polanco of So Good Pupusas. Although these three stories are uniqu...

How does one prepare for a transformative experience like a gap year? For our Season Two finale, we invited three professional gap year counselors; Jason Sarouhan of the Center for Interim Programs, Marion Taylor of Taylor the Gap and Susan Staley of Free to Roam Adventures, to discuss what they think are the most important ways to prepare for a gap year. We'll cover mental and physical preparatio...

Joining Margo on the pod is Jacqueline Contino, who spent a life-changing post-undergraduate gap year in South Africa through the program Oyster Worldwide. After studying a pre-veterinary track in college, she ended up participating in two separate programs in South Africa during her gap time, first studying wildlife veterinary medicine. It was during this first stint in the country where she disc...

Joining us in this episode is Sasha Landauer and Jiyoung Jeong and of Gapyearly, who start us off by telling us a bit more about their own independent gap years post high school before beginning their undergraduate education at Stanford University. They now c0-direct the online gap year platform Gapyearly, which offers firsthand feedback of gap year experiences and free support for prospective gap...

Elisabeth Mulder joins Margo on the pod to discuss her gap semester spent in New Hampshire with Gap at Glen Brook. From spending two days solo in the woods, to returning as a summer camp counselor at Glen Brook and now heading back this summer for her third stint of time, Elisabeth's passion for her experience with Gap at Glen Brook is inspiring.

As an American, there are so many ways to give back right here in the US on a gap year. One of them is City Year, an 11 month long service program that some people call "the domestic Peace Corps." Volunteers spend their year mentoring students in a high-need school in one of twenty-nine CY cities across the country. Andre Morgan and Tiger Mar share their experiences as City Year volunteers in New...

Julia and Margo take a break while on the road for the USA Gap Year Fairs to talk all things art history with Holly Morrison, a former Art History Abroad alumni who has now turned her passions in the field into her adult career. With a fascinating take on the "heart, mind, and soul" of a gap year through her own personal gap year journey post-high school, Holly shares her deep passion for travel a...

Ever think about spending your gap year on the ocean? Kelly Daniels spends at least 3 months of the year on a sailboat in the British Virgin Islands. That's because she caught the sailing bug in college and has spent her career since helping young people develop skills around water sports, including sailing and SCUBA diving. In our interview, Kelly will tell us about her personal journey, the stud...

February is Gap Year Exploration Month and we are inviting you to #explorethegapyear with us! First we speak with Alia Pialtos of USA Gap Year Fairs. USA Gap Year Fairs organizes events across the US for students to discover gap year programs. Every winter, USA GYF travels to 41 locations from sea to shining sea. There are 20 fairs in February, so check usagapyearfairs.org to find one near you! We...

Margo and Julia recap their favorite travels of 2018, discuss the upcoming USA Gap Year Fairs and wrap up Season 1 of Gap Year Radio. Make sure to check out an upcoming USA Gap Year Fair in your area this winter (they start in Philly on Jan 5 and end in Denver March 2) See the schedule at usagapyearfairs.org Stay tuned for Season 2 of Gap Year Radio coming February 4, 2019. Happy New Year!

John O'Connor and Eamonn Mazur were friends throughout their high school days in Massachusetts, and were able to turn a small seedling of an idea to hike the Appalachian Trail start to finish on their gap year into a reality. After many months of preparation, and differing pursuits in the fall of their gap year, they embarked on the adventure of a lifetime in March of this year. In this episode, t...