Happy Earth Month and Welcome to Season Eight of Gap Year Radio!

As we navigate the era of climate change, it's become increasingly crucial for us to consider the impact of our travel on the environment. With this in mind, let's delve into the world of sustainable travel and explore why it matters now more than ever before. Our guests Daniel Ponce-Taylor and Arantxa López Martínez are both world travelers, program directors and sustainability experts. This is a great episode to jump start your sustainable gap year thinking!

Find our full show notes will sustainable gap year tips at gapyearradiopodcast.com

You can find Arantxa and Spanish gap year online at SpanishGapYear.com

You can find Daniel online at ioi.ngo

You can find Gap Year Radio on instagram and facebook @gapyearradio or online at www.gapyearradiopodcast.com. You can email us your gap year questions or comments at [email protected]

You can download our show wherever you find your favorite podcasts, and if you have a moment, we’d love for you to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so more people can discover Gap Year Radio!

Intro/Outro Music: Quasi Motion by Kevin MacLeod; licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License More info: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Global_Sampler/Quasi_Motion/

We're back! Julia and Margo are feeling rejuvenated after their gap year from the pod and are excited to bring you new and exciting content this upcoming season. Tune in here for a preview of all the guests, themes, and ideas that you can look forward to this season, as well as a recap of all that your cohosts have been up to for the last year!

Intro/Outro Music: Quasi Motion by Kevin MacLeod; licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License More info: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Global_Sampler/Quasi_Motion/

Today on the pod, your co-hosts Julia and Margo come together to get excited for Gap Year Exploration Month (which begins today)! We discuss the various opportunities this month to #explorethegapyear, and how you can remain engaged through this exciting month of opportunities. Additionally we delve into the somewhat daunting task of funding your gap year. We provide you with various ideas and tools to make your gap year dreams become a reality.

Intro/Outro Music: Quasi Motion by Kevin MacLeod; licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License More info: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Global_Sampler/Quasi_Motion/

This episode features Sam Ballard, an alum of Dynamy Internship Year's class of 2021. Sam spent both his fall and spring semesters of his gap year with Dynamy, a domestic gap year program based in Worcester, Massachusetts. Sam was able to participate in two very different internship opportunities in Worcester during his year, with his fall semester being at an automotive shop and his spring semester being at a digital marketing agency. Sam shares with us the many insights gained from these two unique working opportunities, as well as more about the structure of the program at Dynamy and how that has not only helped to direct his studies in college this year but furthermore allowed him to develop many useful life skills that have proved incredibly helpful now at college!

Today on the pod we have Kevin Fagan joining us, a gap year alum who participated in Where There Be Dragons' Andes and Amazon semester for his fall term, and then spent the second half of his gap year solo backpacking through Europe. Kevin shares with us some highlights from his semester in South America with Dragons and some of his biggest takeaways from this experience, as well as how that semester helped launch him into more independent travels and adventures for his spring semester. Kevin is a recent graduate of Gonzaga University and is now working in sustainability consulting in the Spokane, Washington area, and as someone who is five years out from these experiences is able to share with us how his gap year continues to impact his passions and career path today.

Intro/Outro Music: Quasi Motion by Kevin MacLeod; licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License More info: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Global_Sampler/Quasi_Motion/

In 2019, Luke participated in the Tufts 1+4 Bridge Year program with Amigos de las Américas in Cuenca, Ecuador. He lived with a host family and worked at Fundación Crea tu Espacio, a non-profit that aids migrants during their transitory periods. Some of his responsibilities included working at daycare centers for toddlers, organizing fundraisers, facilitating workshops, and assisting with a community-based project to build an auxiliary location for the Fundación. Luke also talks about how his gap year offered him the space to explore his sexual orientation and ethnic identity. tells us why his bridge year was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of his life.

You can find Gap Year Radio on instagram and facebook @gapyearradio or online at gapyearradiopodcast.com

You can email us your gap year questions or comments at [email protected]

And lastly you can download our show wherever you find your favorite podcasts, and if you have a moment, we’d love for you to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so more people can discover Gap Year Radio!

Listen to our conversation with Jenae Edwards, who tells us all about how she filled an unexpected covid gap year with meaning. ⁠

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Jenae used her gap time to create art and delve deeper into my love of art, while picking up a new skill of skateboarding and learning a lot from the community on her island. She says her perspective of home has completely changed as a result of spending her gap time in the Bahamas...how you wonder? Well take a listen to find out!

You can find Gap Year Radio on instagram and facebook @gapyearradio or online at gapyearradiopodcast.com

You can email us your gap year questions or comments at [email protected]

And lastly you can download our show wherever you find your favorite podcasts, and if you have a moment, we’d love for you to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so more people can discover Gap Year Radio!

Episode 702 brings you our conversation with Aliza Saunders, a 18/19 alum of Tinvu: Building Justice. Tivnu is a nine-month gap year program focused on social justice engagement. ⁠ ⁠ Participants create a community living together, discovering the Pacific Northwest, and exploring the bond between Jewish life and social justice while working with Portland’s cutting-edge grassroots organizations.⁠

You can find Gap Year Radio on instagram and facebook @gapyearradio or online at www.gapyearradiopodcast.com. You can email us your gap year questions or comments at [email protected]

You can download our show wherever you find your favorite podcasts, and if you have a moment, we’d love for you to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so more people can discover Gap Year Radio!

We open our newest season with covid gapper Dan Schmidt who has a super interesting gap year story. As a creative, Dan expanded his professional skill set by spending a large chunk of his year as a videographer for the Adventures with Purpose YouTube channel. He helped bring the channel from 250,000 subscribers to over 1 million, all while traveling the country, learning to pilot drones and solving missing person cases through AWP efforts.

Adventures With Purpose specializes in raising submerged vehicles out of bodies of water. AWP got started as an environmental operation but has since helped solve 10 Cold Cases, providing answers and closure for families seeking answers. They have also removed 100+ vehicles from lakes and rivers since 2019.

You can find us here at Gap Year Radio on instagram and facebook @gapyearradio or online at gapyearradiopodcast.com

You can email us your gap year questions or comments at [email protected]

And lastly you can download our show wherever you find your favorite podcasts, and if you have a moment, we’d love for you to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so more people can discover Gap Year Radio!

Today on the pod we are excited to have Ethan Knight, founding director of the Gap Year Association. Julia and Margo take some time to talk to Ethan about the history of the Gap Year Association (GYA), his personal path that brought him here, the meaning of life, climate based gap years, and the current state of the field after a challenging pandemic year. 

You can find Ethan and his colleagues at the Gap Year Association online at https://www.gapyearassociation.org/ or on Instagram and Facebook @gapyearassociation.