Help, Plz! Gap Year Info & Thoughts Needed on CityYear & Other Options

Parents Forum
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<p>I would be interested in hearing about experiences with gap years, particularly gap years that do not cost $ as we don't have the funds to pay for S to have gap year. I also would be interested in hearing about experiences with CityYear and similar programs.</p>

<p>S, a senior, is fairly certain that he will do a gap year next year and would like that gap year to focus on community service, preferably service involving working with children or teens.</p>

<p>The reasons for this are: S loves community service, but due to his academic schedule, has not been able to do projects as in depth as he would have liked (though he has taken major leadership roles that have had an impact on his school and community); S's academic interests range from education to engineering to psychology and biochemistry, so he's not sure what kind of college to apply to, and has not applied to any (He also has missed the merit aid deadlines for several colleges that he loved and needs merit $ to attend); S was recently diagnosed ADD and finally is getting treatment to help address the discrepancy between his SAT I scores (760, 780, 650) and his 2.8 unweighted average in a rigorous academic program.</p>

<p>S has the financially unrealistic idea of moving out of our house and doing a community service gap year in our community. That's unrealistic because we could afford to have him stay at home and gap in an Americorps program or by simply volunteering without the Americorps financial extras. We can't afford to support him (or to have him support himself) while renting here during a gap. However, he fears that if he lives at home, he won't develop enough independence. </p>

<p>We could afford to send him away through a program like CityYear, which would give him a stipend, health insurance, plus about $4,000 for college expenses.</p>

<p>S is a black male, a nice, thoughtful guy who would get strong character references, so probably would be viewed as a welcome addition to a community service program.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this! I look forward to your comments and suggestions.</p>

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<p>my daughter did City Year in our city- ( Seattle) I have posted on other gap year threads-
While she applied to and was accepted at all of her colleges senior year- she just wasn't ready to continue to college- we encouraged her to take a year off-
City year was a highly structured program which was a good fit for her with her ADD- they provided training- community service group opportunities and long term opportunities. Her main site was at an elementary school that had high homeless population/high need- she also worked all year at an inner city site helping minority teens with computer instruction and resume writing.
While the sites do vary- most/all are based with education and young people. I think it probably would provide enough structure for your son to live in another city- but the stipend is very small and he would need to live with several others to get by- particulary if he was based someplace as expensive as Seattle or Boston.
She would say it was a very positive experience- but she wouldn't necessarily do the same again- Americorps is not quite as structured/rigid and while the structure served her well in CityYear, she felt that some of the rules were too rigid ( mostly about fraternization- couldn't become friends with your unit leader for example)
sounds like your son would also be a good fit with the organization although he may also want to look at Americorps</p>

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<p>What city?</p>

<p>Not sure if this suggests activities for a gap year, (it might) but for some all around inspiration, read this article:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-2/113548982510520.xml?starledger?nnj&coll=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-2/113548982510520.xml?starledger?nnj&coll=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I also wanted to add that I felt that a year living at home doing CItyYear gave my daughter a lot of independence
She was working full time ( 40+ hours) for which she took city transportation- all over the city- without a cell phone
she developed confidence and when she applied to colleges for the subesequent year she added one that would have been a reach earlier and was admitted with a very nice aid package- something that I think that CityYear made possible.</p>