Christina visited the Amazon rain forest in Peru.
by Linda L. Esterson
Christina DeJoseph had a plan. During high school, she expected to pursue her dream of becoming an Olympic snowboarder.
But by 16, she had sustained six “diagnosed head hits” and her plans needed to change.
“Pursuing your dream and having something that stops you in your tracks reminds you of what’s important,” she says. “I realized taking the path the regular way wasn’t necessarily for me.”
DeJoseph, like others across the country, including presidential daughter Malia Obama, decided to postpone college enrollment.
A gap year is defined by the American Gap Association as an experiential semester or year “on,” typically taken between high school and college, in order to deepen practical, professional, and personal awareness.
Dealing with the fog and challenges of her head injuries proved difficult, and DeJoseph needed a break from the concentration of studying and schoolwork. After graduating from her New Jersey high school in 2013, DeJoseph notified the 12 colleges who accepted her that she desired to defer for a year. Only McDaniel College in Westminster agreed to hold her spot.
“I knew I wanted to bring myself back to who I was,” she says, describing herself as fiercely competitive, positive and believing in the “goodness of the world.”
DeJoseph devised a plan, comprised of service categories that interested her. They included wildlife, the elderly, children, medicine, education and construction. Her goal was to act, think and go globally.
Christina (Sunshine) DeJoseph, center, chats with fellow McDaniel students Olivia Belitsos and Alfonso Navarro while on campus.
She headed to Mexico to swim with whale sharks, worked at a wolf conservation project in New Jersey, and volunteered at a nearby zoo and as a therapeutic horseback rider at a barn in New Jersey. Each experience lasted up to a few months and led to the next.
“This was about re-grounding myself in the things I knew were important,” she says. “Doing things with full passion, full love guided the way. It proved to be true my entire gap year.”
DeJoseph spent seven weeks in Austria with a European dog sled champion, learning and working as a musher and dog handler and guiding kids through the countryside. She returned for eight weeks a few months later and earned gold and bronze medals in international dogsled competition.
Altogether, DeJoseph traveled to seven countries and 14 American states.
She enrolled at McDaniel in fall 2014, and gave a presentation at the Maryland Collegiate Honors Conference in April 2015, outlining why the gap year made her a better college student. She will return to McDaniel this fall for her junior year as an exercise science and Spanish double major in the hopes of pursuing a physical therapy career.
“It was the best decision I could have made,” she says. “I was reminded that despite hard things, tragedies, bad things we hear about daily, there are good people, beautiful things and scenery and so much to be grateful for.”
Florence Hines, vice president for admissions at McDaniel College, says the gap year is not normally taken with an academic component unless an athlete needs additional coursework or further preparation is needed prior to entering college. Most schools, she says, are willing to work with the applicant to defer admission if a plan is in place for the year. Merit scholarships, too, are held for the year.
“The gap year is not supposed to be a year on YouTube,” she says. “It’s supposed to be substantive. This is just delaying the first year of college.”
Hines says just a small portion of the student population chooses a gap year before joining McDaniel’s freshman class. Out of a pool of approximately 2,300, about 12 inquire about deferring, she notes. If the gap year is considered, students should opt for structure, plan a budget, serve others, and choose to “broaden their horizons in a different way.”
Chris Nusbaum is also choosing to broaden his horizons.
About 18 months ago, while attending a summer high school program at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, he learned about a year-long adult program that prepares people who are blind to live independently. The program, affiliated with the National Federation of the Blind, provides training in five core areas; braille, technology, cane travel, home economics and daily living skills. It culminates with final exams in each area, including students preparing a meal for 40 and being dropped off in Reston and finding their way back to the center.
Nusbaum, who graduated from Francis Scott Key High School in June, applied to several colleges while he contemplated taking the gap year.
“It took me a while to decide whether to go or not,” says Nusbaum. “I do really need these skills and they would be nice to have before I go to college.”
He also considered enrolling in the training program after college, prior to entering the workforce.
In the meantime, he was accepted to Lynchburg College and offered a $20,000 Hopwood Scholarship. After deciding on the gap year, he penned a letter to the admissions counselor who granted his request, including holding the scholarship until fall 2017.
His mother, Wendy Cox, encouraged the gap year to increase his level of independence.
“I pushed it a little bit,” Cox admits. “I feel it’s the correct order for him to become fully independent prior to being on a college campus.”
Westminster High School graduate Rachel Thomas is taking a gap year to pursue her passion for dance. She has planned trips to New York and California to audition for agents, train with choreographers and take workshops. She’s narrowed her focus to hip hop, after a previous back surgery limited her in ballet.
“It’s my passion and I can go for it,” she says. “There are people out there living the lifestyle I desire and (living) my dream, showing me it’s possible.”
Thomas notes that not every career requires college, and acknowledges she can only “dance for so long.”
She will take advantage of opportunities she discovers through her dance studio, connections she’s made through the years, agents, and online. She also hopes to travel.
“It’s important to travel and experience when you’re young and not wait until retirement,” says Rachel, 18. “Not everything is business and academics. It’s important to have fun when you’re young.”
Throughout the year, Thomas will continue to spend many hours in the gym, keeping in shape. She also plans to audition for So You Think You Can Dance, teach dance classes and work as a server and a model to earn money to fund her trips.
Thomas did consider college and sent out a few applications, but admits school is not her passion.
“I could have a lot of fun with it (college), but it’s not going to get me places I need to be,” she says.
This time, next year, she will re-evaluate her plans, she says.
Her school counselor, Jeannetta Harper, doesn’t see too many students opt for a gap year, although some do take time off to “get their finances in order. They don’t want to waste their parents’ money until they figure out what they want to do.”
According to the American Gap Association, 90 percent of students who take a gap year do enroll in a four-year college program the following year.
Harper equates Thomas’ decision to being an athlete who gets drafted while in shape and grabs the opportunity instead of enrolling in college.
“She does have a goal in pursuing her passion,” Harper says. “It’s a good thing because she is pursuing a passion and wants to see where it takes her.”
Gap Year Options
- International Travel
- Volunteering in the U.S. & Abroad
- Athletic Pursuits
- Employment
- Internships
- Leadership Programs
- Academic Programs
Gap Year Organizations
- Adventures Cross Country
www.adventurescrosscountry.com - City Year
www.cityyear.org - Projects Abroad
www.projects-abroad.org - Thinking Beyond Borders
www.thinkingbeyondborders.org - USA Gap Year Fairs
www.usagapyearfairs.org - World Stamp Gap Year
www.worldstampgapyear.org
