Find YOUR Path In Life!
Take A Year Off And WORK
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Take A Year Off And EXPERIENCE
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Meet Jessica!
Just like many students, Jessica had no intentions of jumping right back into the "nose in book" life of school. So instead of going from senior to freshman, she decided to explore 12 different countries over the course of a year with some of her friends! She gained TONS of experience, and by the end of the trip knew what she wanted to do with her life! She says that she felt a bit lost at some times, and did not like the feeling that there was no goal to work towards. This experience benefited her in an educational manner because it showed her that while experience is great, she wanted some goal in life. She was refreshed and ready to take on her tertiary studies, and she was thankful for it. She even has some advice for those planning to take a year off!
- Get Prepared. - Don't just finish school without having a plan for the year ahead or a list of goals you want to achieve. Getting organized will make your gap year run smoothly and will have the bonus advantage of making you feel more confident when you go back to study. After all, if you've organized a job for yourself, or a round-the-world-trip, school's going to be easy in comparison, right?
- Make the year Worthwhile. - This might include work experience at a job/career you think you may want to pursue, volunteering or working to save money for all the expenses of future studying. Finding work experience in fields that interest you will not only give you perspective, but you will gain valuable working skills and it will look great on your resume.
- Stay in Touch with Friends . - A good support network is essential in life, so make sure not to isolate yourself this year.
- Give yourself Some Structure. - It could take the form of work schedules or committing to play a sport every week. You should also try to keep some sort of semblance of a regular sleeping pattern. Trust me - you'll thank me later for this one!
- Try Something Different! - You could take up a new sport or join an organization, volunteer somewhere where you are making a difference, or go to a country that you have always dreamt of going to. Not only will you have some great experiences, but by doing things that you don't normally do you may discover things about yourself that you might not have known otherwise.
- Travel! - There is a whole big world outside of high school and seeing it yourself is a life changing thing.