Gap Year Safety: How to Stay Alive on Your Trip

I attended the near drowning of a Gap Year traveler one week ago today. It was, by far, the most terrifying experience of my life to date and I’m extraordinarily glad to have been present, and that he is alive. While travel is, statistically speaking, a safe endeavor, deaths do occur abroad; just like they[…]

Funding Your Child’s Gap Year: Should You Help?

It’s likely that among your first concerns, when your young person brought up the idea of traveling for a year, was cost. I know it is always my first question when my teens have approached us with the dream of a summer hopping trains across Europe, or buses across America, or crossing the Mediterranean and[…]

Notes From the Field: Katarina Ashour on Serving at the Daktari Bush School & Wildlife Orphanage

For the last month I have been volunteering in South Africa at the DAKTARI Bush School and Wildlife Orphanage. It has been a wonderful experience here working with children and animals. Each week a new group of eight children, usually four girls and four boys, come to stay at DAKTARI from the surrounding low income[…]

Gap Year Planning for Parents: Help Your Student Plan, With GAP YEAR 30 PARENTS (it’s free!)

Does your student want to take a gap year but you’re not sure where to start with the planning? If your child is thinking about taking a gap year but you are feeling a little overwhelmed at the idea of planning it, you’re not alone! It’s normal to struggle with the logistics of planning a[…]

Why Use a Gap Year Counselor?

If you are in high school, chances are you or someone you know is working with a college counselor to help them through the painstaking college application process. For students who need help deciding which schools to apply to or how to write a great essay or how to finance their college experience, this guidance[…]