{"id":3664,"date":"2021-04-16T18:34:43","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T22:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=3664"},"modified":"2021-06-11T08:49:10","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T12:49:10","slug":"gap-year-helps-hunter-students-find-new-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2021\/04\/gap-year-helps-hunter-students-find-new-direction\/","title":{"rendered":"Gap Year Helps Hunter Students Find New Direction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Ariel Gold already packed her dorm room and was on her way back to New York when two of her University of Colorado Boulder professors reached out to her. She was unsure how to tell them she wouldn\u2019t be in class for the foreseeable future and that she was tired of being a political science major. Gold made the decision to go home, but she didn\u2019t realize that decision marked the end of her time in Colorado and the beginning of a gap year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was really struggling emotionally and lacking a support system, so I came home,\u201d Gold said.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not an uncommon reason to take a gap year, said Keith Okrosy, who works in career development services at Hunter. Other situations that may lead to time off include finances, stress from academics or personal matters and the need to reevaluate their future plans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, about one in five students felt unsure about whether they should re-enroll in college classes that fall, according to a <\/span>survey<\/span><\/a> commissioned by the American Council on Education and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gold left Colorado in fall 2019 at the beginning of her sophomore year. At home, in between therapy and officially withdrawing from school, she volunteered at a commercial kitchen that offers job training programs for young people with autism. Gold\u2019s older brother, Noah, introduced her to the <\/span>organization<\/span><\/a>. She assisted bakers with reading instructions and measuring ingredients.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with young adults on the autism spectrum, I discovered I love working with kids,\u201d said Gold.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gold first took classes at Hunter in the spring of 2020 as a part time, non-degree student solidifying her decision to not return to Colorado. Now a history major, she plans to go on to receive a dual masters degree in secondary and special education.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m much happier where I am at Hunter, and in life generally,\u201d Gold said. \u201cThat time off was necessary.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pandemic made Mariam Khelashvili\u2019s gap year unavoidable. She faced some backlash from family, but her Hunter advisors supported the idea. The pre-med student turned political science major officially withdrew from Hunter in spring 2020 and plans to return in the fall of 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFinishing biology didn\u2019t feel right. I realized I was only pre-med to please other people,\u201d Khelashvili said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Khelashvili found herself volunteering for Dianne Morales, a New York City mayoral candidate, during her gap year. She spends her time phone banking, writing emails and creating social media content for the Morales campaign. After graduating, she plans to apply to a masters degree program then run for office in her congressional district.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Gold first returned home, she didn\u2019t have any set plans. She said, though everything worked out, having a plan would have made the transition smoother. The career development services team works closely with students to help them make the most of their gap year. Okrosy said the most important part of the plan is that students do return and complete their degree.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent graduate Nancy finished her degree in six and a half years. Over the course of her time at Hunter, which ended in December 2020, she took three semesters off due to health reasons. When she took her second semester off, Nancy accepted she wouldn\u2019t graduate on time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot graduating on time really upset me, but now I think of it as a part of my story and a part of me,\u201d Nancy said.<\/span><\/p>\n

At 24, Nancy sometimes was the oldest in the classroom. She said it takes a certain amount of strength to leave school and come back to finish her degree in political science and Chinese.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTaking that time off gave me time to sit and consider if this was something I want to do and finish,\u201d said Nancy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The breaks she took throughout her college career set her up for success. In September, she will be attending graduate school at Johns Hopkins University in Nanjing, China.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy attitude towards school changed. It was no longer something I felt like I had to do, but was something I wanted to do,\u201d Nancy said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking time off from college changed these students\u2019 lives and their majors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":3669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,324],"tags":[400,14,401],"class_list":["post-3664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-column","category-student-life","tag-gap-year","tag-hunter-college","tag-transfer-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3664"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3970,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3664\/revisions\/3970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}