The Gap Year Podcast

Thinking of applying to higher education programs now, but still want to take a gap year? This is totally possible by deferring your acceptance! This guarantees you a spot for the following year so you don’t have to worry about applying or getting accepted - you can just enjoy your gap year!

You may be wondering, how can I apply for a deferral? In today’s episode, we’ve got you covered with a guide on how to defer your acceptance, tips and tricks, and how to weigh your options in the event you can’t defer your acceptance. 

Topics Discussed

• What is a deferral and researching the deferral process at your respective institution.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• Get support to light up your gap year! Book a free 30-min call: https://www.cangap.ca/call

Connect With The Canadian Gap Year Association

• Join “Gapper Connect” on Discord to connect with students thinking about a gap year, current Gappers, and alum all in one place! https://www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect

Have you ever thought about becoming a marine biologist? Perhaps you have an interest in this fascinating field, but can’t seem to find the resources or opportunities to further explore it. Well, you are in luck, because in today’s episode, Lisa Chen, a Marine Biology Conservationist, Educator and Entrepreneur, shares her story of working in the industry and her incredible experience through the Canadian Conservation Corps! 

Listen in to hear Chen’s international learning and teaching journey, hands-on research, and animal care stories. Stick around until the end to learn how to use a gap year to explore such passions, like Marine Biology, that can lead to an exciting career path!

Topics Discussed

• Lisa Chen’s journey of studying Marine Biology and teaching internationally in places like Thailand and Vietnam. 

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• Canadian Conservation Corps - http://CanadianConservationCorps.ca

Connect With The Canadian Gap Year Association

• Join “Gapper Connect” on Discord to connect with students thinking about a gap year, current Gappers, and alum all in one place! https://www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect

“So, you’re telling me you want to give me $1000 to NOT return to school?” That’s right, Gappers! In celebration of our 5th anniversary, CanGap is giving away $5000 in Gap Year Scholarships this year to 5 gap year students and gap year alum.

Our first round of spring scholarships will award $1000 to two 2022/23 gap year students and one gap year student finishing their gap year this year. In this episode, Michelle dives into how to fill out your application, what we’re looking for and application deadlines. Listen in to learn how to write a winning application before Friday, May 27, 2022!

Topics Discussed

• Announcing our CanGap Gap Year Scholarships and what to expect.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• CanGap Gap Year Scholarship - https://www.cangap.ca/scholarship

Connect With The Canadian Gap Year Association

• Join “Gapper Connect” on Discord to connect with students thinking about a gap year, current Gappers, and alum all in one place! https://www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect

Raise your hand if you are feeling burnt out. If your hand is up, know you are not alone. Parents are burnt out, teachers are burnt out, employees and employers are burnt out, and students are burnt out. It's a very common experience that we're all having two-plus years into this pandemic life - something we never thought we would experience. We all need a little bit of a break from everything that's going on.

While a gap year is a break from formal schooling, it's not a break from learning or a break from your goals. This is an opportunity for you to take care of that burnout, and to feel excited and joyful. Learn more about how it’s possible to use a gap year to be productive and reignite your mental health in today’s episode!

Topics Discussed

• How you cannot heal in the same environment that hurts you.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• 7 types of rest TEDx talk by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith “The real reason why we are tired and what to do about it” https://youtu.be/ZGNN4EPJzGk

Connect With The Canadian Gap Year Association

• Join “Gapper Connect” on Discord to connect with students thinking about a gap year, current Gappers, and alum all in one place! https://www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect

If you've ever dreamt of going to Switzerland, you’ll wanna hear Jack Moser’s story about his gap year at Neuchâtel Junior College.

In this episode, he paints a beautiful picture of Switzerland and his incredible time in Neuchâtel while describing the town, his daily commute, his class schedule, the Canadian school curriculum and his amazing Canadian teachers. Discover why he said it was the best year of his life and what life was like in Switzerland during the pandemic. He also describes some of his exciting travel adventures with friends and the strong support he received from his host family. Be sure to listen to the end as he shares some advice with students who may be thinking about spending their gap year abroad or going to Neuchâtel Junior College. 

Topics Discussed

• What led him to discover Neuchâtel Junior College and why he decided to attend school in Switzerland.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• Neuchâtel Junior College - https://www.njc.ch/ 

Connect With The Canadian Gap Association

• Join Gapper Connect on Discord to connect with students thinking about a gap year, current Gappers, and alum all in one place! https://www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect

If you've got money on the brain, or if you're worried that your gap year may be “expensive” and you won’t be able to afford it, we’ve got you covered. 

In this episode, we bust the most common myths around money during your gap year and offer up helpful tips that make this process easier and more comfortable. 

Come learn the importance of establishing a budget, goal-setting and the exact processes you need to go through to manage your income and expenses. You’ll also walk away with a solid understanding of how to handle larger sums of money to invest in yourself or your personal development. 

Stick around closer to the end when Michelle dives into valuable insight on how to creatively earn more money and travel smarter to help close income gaps. Discover private and government-funded youth scholarships and organizations that provide financial aid options and how to leverage your own skills to work with them in exchange for discounted scholarship programs. 

Topics Discussed

• Learn how to become familiar with handling larger sums of money so that you are comfortable making investment decisions for yourself. 

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• RBC Future Launch Scholarship - https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/futurelaunch/index.html

Connect With The Canadian Gap Association

• Join Gapper Connect on Discord to connect with students thinking about a gap year, current Gappers, and alum all in one place! https://www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect

We all have regrets, however, if we plan our gap year mindfully, we can lay the foundation for a very bright future. Today's guest Michael Shouldice from Athabasca University talks about his three gap years and some of the things that he would have done differently if he were to do it all over again. A lot of that comes down to accessing the right resources that can help you build a successful foundation during your gap year.  

Michelle and Michael dive deeper into his gap year experiences where he talks about his time spent abroad working in Australia. He drops some golden-nugget resources for students who are taking a gap year and transitioning on to university, employment or both. Stick around to the very end of the episode where Michael shares a little bit more about how Athabasca University can fit into your gap year and allow you to earn university credits, while still having the freedom that a gap year provides. 

Topics Discussed

• Michael describes his first gap year between high school and university and his regret for not having access to the gap year resources at the time. 

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• Discover Year https://www.discoveryear.ca/

Connect With The Canadian Gap Association

• Join Gapper Connect on Discord to connect with students thinking about a gap year, current Gappers, and alum all in one place! https://www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect

A 2022/2023 gap year is all about reclaiming your life. It's about finding a sense of control, feeling you are moving yourself forward towards your goals, having fun, being adventurous and developing real world skills to help you become an adult.

In this episode, Michelle talks about some of the concrete reasons why a 2022/2023 gap year makes sense, as well as addressing common concerns.  

2022-2023 can be YOUR year. You can lean into it, make it your own, take control of your life and launch yourself into an amazing year.  

While this can seem scary, CanGap is here to help.  We have an amazing community online of current gappers, gap year alum and folks deciding if a gap year is the right fit for them.  Come ask your questions and learn what others are up to in our Gapper Connect discord server.  www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect.

If you want some one-on-one support, you can always book a free 30 minute call with our team and we can help you to start to imagine how your purposeful gap year will shape out.  

It’s time to build a year ahead that excites you, that makes you smile, that makes your friends jealous, and a year that will help you define the rest of your life. 

And we can’t wait to help you get started!

We often feel compelled to keep going, to finish that degree or to pursue more years of higher education, even when a voice in our head tells us to take a break or to change paths.

Now, changing your plans is not easy to do, in fact, it takes a great amount of self-awareness and courage to pursue an idea or an opportunity outside of your comfort zone. However, these changes in life often lead to the most incredible discoveries. 

In this episode of the podcast, Barbara shares her experience participating in the Explore Program and Odyssey Program, offered by the Official Languages Program.

The Odyssey program is a bilingual, paid work experience that provides opportunities for post-secondary students to travel to another province to teach English to students while being immersed with the Quebecois culture.

The Explore program is a 3-5 week french immersion program with structured classes and workshops that is offered in the Spring and Summer. 

Applications to both the Odyssey and Explore Program are live! Apply through the Official Languages Program Website.

Have you heard the phrase “For Lifer’s” before? This is when someone finds perfect alignment in something and it sticks around for a very long time.

For Tyler, this was finding and working with the incredible Canadian Non-Profit Organization, LiveDifferent.

LiveDifferent provides volunteers the opportunity to make a difference in the developing world by working alongside community members to take action and fight prevalent social justice issues.

In this episode, Tyler shares his Gap Year experience with the LiveDifferent Academy program, and how this changed the trajectory of his life. He speaks to the skills he gained and how he became a transformational leader of his community. 

If you are taking a Gap Year, and want to make a difference, don’t miss out on this episode and check out LiveDifferent!