Our very own Kyndal Hazen shares about her 8 months with Denver Gap Year.
A Christian Point of View on Gap Years
Early in life, it seems easier to get caught up in the sands of time. Think about it for instance, when you were in High School, a new school year was a completely new season of life altogether. But once you’ve all grown up, six months ago finds a way to feel like last week! Between the ages of 18 - 24 especially, each year of life is some sort of milestone that involves a lot of growing up. Society holds expectations that you move at the ‘right’ pace, or else you’ll fall behind and get trampled over by those behind you! Is this the Biblical approach to take on time? Afterall, why do some regret never taking a gap year after High School? Let’s take a look at the data, and then decipher the implications of the data.
As Christians, the objective of life is to glorify God, make disciples, and become more like Jesus. We are called to discern our spiritual gifts (with the help of the Holy Spirit), and to utilize those gifts to whichever career path the Lord is leading us to. In each life decision made, it is clear that God wants this to be the priority. As GotQuestions.com mentions, “Scripture reveals that God lives outside the bounds of time as we know it. Our destiny was planned “before the beginning of time” (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2). In other words, it is apparent that the ideal pace of society should not dictate our decisions. If we are in accordance with God's will, there will be no “trampling” over by the world with the mighty God in control of our destiny.
A case study (The possible value of a gap year : a case study (journals.co.za) involving carefully selected participants discovered that each of the participants experienced growth in critical life skills and personal development. The gap year itself provided a time for students to learn more about themselves, which for some was directly aided their career decisions. In other words, the data suggests positive outcomes for those who take the route of a gap year. Check out our blog on the positive consequences of a gap year below.
The 12 Surprising and Powerful Academic Benefits Of Taking A Gap Year — Denver Gap Year
Personal Benefits Of A Gap Year That Most People Overlook — Denver Gap Year
Parent Testimony - A Wise Investment In The Future — Denver Gap Year
A startling statistic reported by Zip Recruiter suggests that nearly half (44 percent to be exact) of college students regret their college major choice (The Most Regretted and Most Loved College Majors - ZipRecruiter). A fair implication of this data would suggest that students rush into one of the most important life decisions they’ll ever make. Luckily for our gap year students, and all those who are deciding to take a gap year, we also know that statistically speaking, those who take a gap year are overwhelmingly reporting satisfaction in their eventual job, while 90% of students who have a planned gap year end up returning back to school a year later. (Gap Year Research – Gap Year Association)
Long story short: if you or your child are considering the gap year route, the data would suggest that there are benefits to doing so. Be sure to explore these benefits and ground yourself in prayer and a Biblical worldview on the matters of time itself.
Hannah Loux: An eye-opening experience (Student Blog)
I attended Denver Gap Year during the Fall 2022 session and Winter 2023 sessions. One of the highlights for me was gaining more of a worldview through our two international trips. These were my first two international mission trips, and they had a big impact on my life. We went to Guatemala in the Fall and then went to Ecuador in the Spring. The Spring trip to Quito, Ecuador especially helped me mature and grow as a person.
We were partnered with an anti-human trafficking organization, and it was eye-opening for me to be able to help and bond with all of the girls there who were our age. Our whole group got to go to a Quinceanera for one of the girls on the base and we had so much fun celebrating and playing ping pong with them. These simple interactions helped break through language and cultural differences and let us enjoy the company of fellow Christians. On another day there, my roommate and I got to participate in the girls' self-defense jujitsu class. This was also so much fun and these types of interactions helped us enjoy spending time with other people that God loves so much and we were able to relate to them through these snared experiences. We were also there to do some manual labor on their base, but I really appreciated the relationship building that these fun activities fostered between us and the girls, and also for my roommates and not only were we poured into relationally, but the organization we worked with was such a blessing for us in our physical and spiritual needs. Unfortunately. our whole team brought a stomach virus with us and the team we worked with in Ecuador served us so graciously through it by providing us with medicine and anything else we needed for the first few days. We were so grateful for the onysica neid they gave us and inrougn that we were really shown the love of Jesus through the unexpected need for them to serve us. At the end of our time in Ecuador, the girls also held a worship session for my roommate and I and prayed over our trip back home.
This was also so powerful to be able to see the cyclical pattern of God's work in how he provided for us to be able to held them for two weeks and how they poured back into us throughout that whole time.
I highly recommend taking a gap year in order to broaden your perspectives. My time with Denver Gap Year particularly gave me these incredible experiences and many more that have allowed me to learn so much more about the world and have prepared me better for my future.
These memories are so powerful to me and my testimony and after graduating from my eight months at Denver Gap Year, I know so much more about God's world that I wouldn't have understood without these experiences.
