'Gap year' may result in more-focused students

After hearing another parent talk about the benefits of a child taking off a year between high school and college, Kim Jackson starting thinking that it might be a good idea for her daughter.

At first, Amanda, a senior at Calvary Baptist Day School, was cool to the idea.

"She was hesitant that, if she took a year off, she might not go back," Jackson said.

Jackson laughed and said she made it clear that was not an option. What she had in mind with a "gap year" or "bridge year," as it is often called, was some sort of enriching experience that would give Amanda a chance to continue to grow.

"She has a lot of experience with working with kids, doing mission work," Kim Jackson said.

With that on the table, Amanda Jackson became interested in finding out more about gap years.

So, on Wednesday night, she and her mother went to a gap-year panel discussion at the Career Center.

When panel member Mandy Shoaf graduated from Mount Tabor High School in 2008, she wasn't sure she was ready for college. "I had no idea what the heck I wanted to do with my life," she said.

Up with People, an international music program that recruits young people from all over the world, sounded like an attractive alternative. "It was the most amazing experience of my life," Shoaf said.

When she started at Appalachian State University at the beginning of this semester, she was much more focused. Her mother, Kathy Shoaf, was in the audience and spoke up to agree with her daughter about the value of the experience.

"College would have been a disaster for her if she had gone straight to college," Kathy Shoaf said.

Also on the panel was Rae Nelson, who, along with her husband, Karl Haigler, wrote The Gap Year: Helping Your Child Benefit from Time Off Before or During College after their son, Adam, took time off from school. Nelson emphasized the importance of structure.

"We're not talking about sitting on a couch," she said. "We're not talking about hanging out."

It's a point that Michelle Releford, the dean of the University College at Winston-Salem State University, also made later.

"It's very important that they have a plan," Releford said.

Doing mission work or other volunteer work can be particularly valuable, she said. It can also be helpful to do some testing during that time to find out what sort of career the person is best-suited for.

In Releford's experience, students who have taken time off tend to be more focused when they get to college. Although she doesn't recommend winging it, students who floundered during their time off are sometimes also more focused, she said, because they have a better idea of just how important education can be.

After graduating from Reynolds High School in 2002, Matt Hendren worked with a program that provided enrichment programs for poor elementary- and middle-school students in Boston through CityYear, which is associated with AmeriCorps.

One question on the minds of many present was how much a gap year costs. The answer was, it depends. Some experiences can cost as much as going to college. Others are relatively inexpensive. Hendren said that things were definitely tight for him -- he ended up supplementing his pay with food stamps -- but that it was definitely possible to get by during a gap year.

Another worry that some people have is whether a student will go on to college after taking time off. Nelson reported that 80 percent of students were back in school in six months, and after a year, 90 percent were back. Once back, they graduated in less time than average.

"They did return, and they returned with an invigorated passion," she said.

Jack Foster, a senior at Reynolds, is considering taking time off to do volunteer work before going on to college.

"It does seem like a time to determine your orientation -- your goals -- rather than grasping at straws in college," Foster said.

■ Kim Underwood can be reached at 727-7389 or at kunderwood@wsjournal.com.

Taking a year off before college

Parents and students interested in finding out more about taking a year off between high school and college are invited to a Gap Year program on April 27 at Forsyth Country Day School.

The presentation will begin at 6 p.m. in the lecture hall in the Johnson Academic Center. For more information, send e-mail to catherinehendren@gmail.com.

Rae Nelson and Karl Haigler, the authors of The Gap-Year Advantage: Helping Your Child Benefit from Time Off Before or During College, have put together a list of some programs available to gap-year students. They include:

•Planetgapyear at www.planetgapyear.com.

•AmeriCorps at www.americorps.gov.

•Center for Interim Programs at www.interimprograms.com.

•CityYear at www.cityyear.org.

•Dynamy at www.dynamy.org.

•Sea Education Association at www.sea.edu.

•Student Conservation Association at www.thesca.org.

•Transitions Abroad at www.transitionsabroad.com.