NEWS
Announcing, a new kind of gap year experience!
I’m so excited to announce the Future Framers Gap year program. This program has been in development – in thoughts and conversations – for years. It is the culmination of decades of seeing young people struggle to navigate the transition to adulthood, independence, and, more recently, an increasingly ambiguous future with climate change.
I’ve been working in education, primarily in university environments, for decades and have seen a growing need for a program that provides essential life skills, offers a space for uncomfortable questions about the world and the future, and builds confidence and optimism. Having worked in the climate space action space the past 15 years, I understand the urgency of addressing our changing natural environment. The young people I know, students I’ve spoken with, and studies in North America and globally have confirmed that young people are concerned about climate change. The program also needed to be accessible and flexible enough to allow participants to work or tend to other activities.
Ta-da! The Future Framers Gap Year.
Bringing you a diverse set of perspectives and expertise are a range of advisors, mentors, instructors, and staff. In particular, I’m making a point of recruiting young advisors to evaluate the program design and define what they are looking for. I’m also excited to be bringing in a variety of professionals and practitioners to teach everything from how to establish exercise habits that stick, to cooking classes, to mindfulness and meditation, to understanding your relationship to money, and setting goals that work for you. It’s a great variety of life skills training sessions. It will be a lot of fun!
Like me, you may have mixed feelings about online instruction. I get it. One of our core approaches is Experiential Learning, so how do we pursue it while giving the flexibility of online instruction? First, we reduce the amount of online program time to 6-8 hours per week. Second, sessions are action-focused and offer exercises to practice during the rest of the week and opportunities to reflect on how those go with others in the program. Third, we help you set your goals and support you in meeting those goals beyond the Future Framers program. And lastly, we actually meet in-person, at least twice per year at the fall and spring camps.
I took a gap year after I graduated from high school. School had been a challenge and I wanted a break. I also wanted to see who I was when I didn’t have lots of structure and was just a newly minted adult, not a student. I worked a couple jobs, took some art classes, learned to drive and got a car, camped, traveled to other states, considered college options at a more leisurely pace, and spent time exploring where I lived, the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. I do recall feeling lonely and isolated occasionally though.
My gap year was tremendously valuable life experience, and when I went off to college a year later, I felt more confident in myself and my identity. However, I still struggled with determining my academic interests, maintaining healthy habits, managing my mental health, money, and other skills. If I had taken the Future Framers Gap Year, I would have been in an even better place. Being part of a community of support, help in defining my goals, and some familiarity with tools for self-care, and general life-skills, would have set me up for greater success and happiness.
Yes, this is the gap year program I would have wanted for myself. The program was carefully designed to super-charge your gap year in a uniquely relevant and flexible way. I and our team hope you find it equally valuable.
Author
Megan Amaral
Program Director
APPLY
Learn more about how to aply to the Future Framers Gap Year program for 2024-25.