WHY A GAP YEAR
IS EVEN MORE RELEVANT NOW THAN THE BEFORE-FORE TIMES BY ETHAN KNIGHT ronically, the premise of the gap year has not needed to change as a result of the pandemic – its value has only grown. Indeed, it feels like a significant part of the gap year field has been hibernating and now it’s awakening with gusto to serve a backlog of eager students. Whether in the study abroad space, or the gap year space, students are desperate to “get out there.” At the Gap Year Association, we’ve seen our membership almost double since the pandemic began, with new offerings coming from college providers of gap years, as well as continued growth of the domestic option. Inevitably, as we look forward to 2022 and beyond, more international options will
be coming online as vaccines become more available to those in host countries and communities around the globe. While it’s certainly more work to run experiential programming in this era, it’s also all the more reason gap years are needed: to invest in our own relevance in a rapidly evolving world. In fact, there’s been more career mobility in the last few years than ever in my lifetime (est. 1978), but also that means those willing to strive for what they love in an experiential and practical way - well, I can’t imagine a better list of ingredients to achieve “success.”
