FSU kicks off inaugural year of Gap Year Fellowship program

http://news.fsu.edu/news/university-news/2016/08/25/fsu-kicks-off-inaugural-year-gap-year-fellowship-program/

"Seven students have been selected to receive financial assistance from FSU during the inaugural year of the “Gap Year Fellowship” program. As fellows the students receive either $1,000 or $5,000 to help support their travel to places such as Germany, Cambodia and Zambia. Florida State is only the second public university in the country to offer financial assistance for gap year experiences.

The gap year concept is one that has just started to take shape in the United States. The idea gained momentum this past spring when President Barack Obama’s oldest daughter, Malia, announced her plans to take a gap year before starting at Harvard University in the fall of 2017. 

Joe O’Shea, assistant vice president for Academic Affairs at FSU and president of the American Gap Association, describes gap years as “a structured educational experience in which students engage in new environments, in new roles, different than what they’ve known before in order to catalyze their development as thinkers and citizens and get ready for their time in college.”

 

 

“Gap years for too long have been the domain of the middle class and above,” O’Shea said. “FSU wanted to be a national leader, embracing gap years fully and even putting money behind that. Doing so will help address, in part, some of the access issues we are seeing in this country.”

Latika Young, interim director for FSU’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement who oversees the program said there are many misconceptions as it relates to taking a gap year.

“Contrary to popular belief, a gap year is not a year off, it’s a year on,” Young said. “We think of it as a transformative experience that will help students gain personal, academic and professional experience.”

Young hopes FSU can grow the program over time.

“Potentially, we could have hundreds of students doing a gap year, but we do imagine that the Gap Year Fellow component will be a little smaller, so they can have that cohort feel together,” Young said.

The seven Gap Year Fellows will be invited to participate in structured group activities and reflection when they return in 2017. During their gap year, they will also document their experiences through a blog under Florida State’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement.

The application window for the next round of Gap Year Fellows opens in December. The deadline to apply is February 1. For more information visit http://cre.fsu.edu/Programs/Gap-year.