APPLY
  • Program
  • Admissions
  • Speakers
  • Alumni
  • About Us
APPLY
  • Why Join
  • Experience
  • Apprenticeships
  • South Africa
  • FAQs
  • Admissions
  • Tuition & Aid
  • Eligibility Quiz
  • Request Info
  • Alumni Stories
  • Community Hub
  • Fellowship
  • Academy
  • Our Story
  • Our Impact
  • Our Team
  • News & Press
  • For Educators
  • Donate

My Bridge Year

I have known for a while now that I wanted to take a year off between high school and college to do some kind of service, but as the end of this school year approached I had no idea exactly what I wanted to do with my twelve month hiatus from the educational system. That was until, while wading through a sea of gap year program websites, I stumbled upon Global Citizen Year. I glanced at the website quickly, expecting it to look eerily similar to the last dozen I had visited, but my eye was caught by what I thought at the time was a peculiar phrase. The website referred to what I had been calling a “gap year” as a “bridge year.” The more I read, the more I began to realize that my goal for taking these next several months off was not to have a “gap” or “hole” in my education. It was to have an experience that would build on my education in ways simply not possible in a classroom.   At its best, it could be a formative jumping off point for the rest off my life.  I wanted to have the chance to live somewhere new and experience a completely different culture. I had no desire to simply blow into a country for a week or two and serve people I knew practically nothing about. Rather I wanted to integrate into a culture so that I was serving a community that I felt truly a part of. Finally, I wanted to do something that would stick with me, guide my choices later in life, and become a favorite story that my grandkids will want to hear over and over again.  I didn’t want a “gap,” I wanted a “bridge” to what comes next in my life.  I feel I will have the opportunity to meet all my goals next year in Senegal, and look forward to the many adventures I will have crossing this “bridge” as a Global Citizen Year Fellow.

Becky McClements

About Becky McClements


gcy logo
Take Action Lab
  • Why Join
  • Experience
  • Apprenticeships
  • South Africa
  • Take Action Lab FAQs
Academy
  • Why Join
  • Experience
  • Speakers
  • Academy Stories
  • Academy FAQs
Fellowship
  • Why Join
  • Experience
  • Destinations
  • Fellowship Stories
  • Fellowship FAQs
Admissions
  • Admissions
  • Tuition & Aid
  • Gap Year Resources
About Us
  • Our Story
  • Our Impact
  • Our Team
  • News & Press
  • For Educators
  • Community Hub
  • Instructor Hub
  • Careers

1625 Clay Street, Suite 400, Oakland, CA 94612
info@globalcitizenyear.org
415-963-9293

Have Admissions Questions?
Check out our FAQs or email our team at admissions@globalcitizenyear.org

Press Inquiries: Please contact Molly Weissman:
media@globalcitizenyear.org

Privacy Policy

© 2023 - Global Citizen Year