mermaidkitchen Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 I have a 17 year old who is finished with high school and applying for colleges. I'm helping him look for experiences that would get him out into the big world. A lot of programs are geared toward 18+ so he does not qualify for those but if you have had a good experience with an 18+ program that would be good to hear about too. Thanks for help! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 Let’s chat about gap yearsRevisiting the gap year concept Talk to me about a gap year after high school Gap year ideas: have we lost our minds When to apply for college when a gap year is being planned? Gap year and financial aid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 In the title of this thread one option is Travel. I suspect that the current age (17) of the DS would be problematic, for him to check into hotels, for example. After his 18th birthday that will become easier. I don't know about Internship programs for High School graduates, but possibly they do exist. I do know that there are programs, for example NSLI-Y for foreign languages that might be available to him if he is interested in languages. For Math there may also be programs (Texas A&M University and other schools are possibilities) and in other subjects there may be possibilities for him. Good luck to him! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eos Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 7 hours ago, Lanny said: NSLI-Y What is this? Thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 When does he turn 18? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 35 minutes ago, Eos said: What is this? Thanks. Very competitive study abroad program for target security languages. Applications are open now: https://www.nsliforyouth.org 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 If you are a Christian, you might consider one of the year-long Torchbearer schools around the world. Many are taught in English, but others are taught in different languages, which could be a nice opportunity if your child is working on another language. They're pretty "central" in their approach... Most denominations would be comfortable there because they stick with the central message of the Gospel. https://torchbearers.org/centres-overview/ Anyway, many teens/young adults go there for a gap-year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Youth Exchange for one year in Germany through the US/German governments. https://usagermanyscholarship.org/ I did this at 16, but there were plenty in my cohort who had graduated a bit early and were doing it as a gap year. The scholarship covers most of the cost. (Or at least it did in the 1990s.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 12 hours ago, Eos said: What is this? Thanks. NSLI-Y is at this link: https://www.nsliforyouth.org/ It's a program of the U.S Dept. of State for strategic languages. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 1 hour ago, Lanny said: NSLI-Y is at this link: https://www.nsliforyouth.org/ It's a program of the U.S Dept. of State for strategic languages. Whoa, cool. I just sent this to dd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 On 10/19/2021 at 11:18 AM, Lanny said: I suspect that the current age (17) of the DS would be problematic, for him to check into hotels, for example. After his 18th birthday that will become easier. My current just graduated student is doing a gap year now. He chose to mostly travel...his goal is every state in the US (except Alaska and Hawaii....although his aunt might fund those). He is a swimmer so is trying to swim in each state as just a fun thing to say he’s done. He is actually on the second leg of his trip now (he’s doing it in loops, not as one big long trip). He should be somewhere in Missouri. He doesn’t turn 18 until November. Some challenges for travel at his age they may help you if your son decides to travel... -You can’t rent a car under 21 so for some of the legs/loops he will have to take an adult with him or he has to fly and then use public transporation. For example, his first loop was a family vacation that we all did in OR/WA/ID/WY/MO. Or he’d have to just drive his own car everywhere but for long personal reasons that didn’t work (mostly related to swim and wanting to come back between loops and train so he never wanted to be away long enough to drive all the way to the West Coast and back). -We didn’t realize the hotel thing until pretty soon before he left on this trip. He was planning on doing a mix of hotels/camping/staying with friends. But we suddenly realized that wouldn’t work. We tried calling hotels and asking if he could stay alone if we put it in our name and on our credit card and he had a letter of permission but it was a solid no. So we reached out widely to friends and family and found places for him everywhere along the route except two places. Then I stumbled on a website: Hipcamp that is sort of like an Air BnB for camping. It has very cool small campsites and he booked two of them. One was a treehouse in Ohio and one was a small hobby farm in South Dakota. I think he will probably use it more for other loops as they were both cool experiences. We also discovered that alot of hotels said 21 so it won’t even be possible after his birthday. He did end up staying in one hotel...one of the contacts decided last minute that it was maybe risky with the pandemic and so booked him a hotel and then went with him to check him in. So that is an option if you know someone who maybe doesn’t have the ability to host but is willing to go and be the adult checking the person in. The hotel did know that the adult wasn’t staying and they were ok with it. -We required him to have a companion for his trips. So his brother (10th grader) is on this one and will likely go on others. My husband is going on one. Etc. He would probably have enjoyed going with friends but all of his friends are either in high school or college so it didn’t work out. The travel is really growing him and pushing his comfort zone in a good way. He is a complete introvert so having to contact all the hosts and then follow up and then talk (!!!) to them when he stays there is very much outside his comfort zone. He had to save and then budget for the trip costs. He had to research where to swim and think about routes and things. He had to figure out laundry somewhere along the path. He researched fun things to do where he was going so it wasn’t just drive, swim, repeat. We haven’t heard a lot but we have heard some of the fun. The other main thing he’s doing when he’s home is to get certified to teach lifeguarding (he’s already a lifeguard) and then he’ll work at the rec center teaching classes. Which helps fund the trip. He thought of that on his own and pursued it and it looks like it will be a great opportunity for him. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 My son did the YMCA at the Rockies for a semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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