Global Citizen Year - Gap Year Program Senegal

Why did you decide to do a gap year with Global Citizen Year?

Jordan: I decided to take a bridge year with Global Citizen Year for two reasons. The primary reason was to improve my French, which I had studied in high school. And the secondary reason was the opportunity to travel. Senegal is the only country which Global Citizen Year operates in which speaks French, so that was my natural inclination.

In addition, once I found out about the extraordinary financial aid that was offered, I was completely set on my decision to take a bridge year with Global Citizen Year. They really seemed like a program that offered exactly what I was looking for.

What was the most memorable moment of your experience?

Jordan: One of my most memorable moments was when I had to get two of my wisdom teeth removed. I went into the dentist's office, and they asked for my name, date of birth, all of those important details.

I gave them my Senegalese name (all of the people in my program are given Senegalese names during our time in-country). And they asked me if I was Arona Sarr's (the name of my host dad) kid because he had made an appointment for me.

I said yes. They then asked if I was Senegalese or American - that is, which country was I a citizen of. At first, I was confused. Of course I'm American.

Then I realized that when my host dad had said his son was coming in for a dentist's appointment. He didn't say that it was his host son. He just said "son." To him, I was one and the same. That memory has always stayed with me.

Tell us about one person you met.

Jordan: The most extraordinary person I met while in Senegal was my boss at one of my apprenticeships sites, and also my best friend, Babacar Siby. He is such a fascinating individual that one day I sat down and interviewed him for an hour about his life story.

He was probably my greatest friend while I was in Mboro, but also the most passionate and curious person I met there. He works at a community center, leads a theater troupe, is a wonderful father, and speaks over four different languages (that I know of), to name but of few of the things he does. He added so much to my experience in Senegal.

If you could go back and do something different, what would it be?

Jordan: The only thing I would change would be to make my experience longer. After spending seven and a half months in Senegal, I realized how much I still had to learn about the people, culture, and language. And I wish I could have increased that knowledge.

How has this experience impacted your future?

Jordan: This is an experience that I won't truly realize the benefits of until many many years later. However, so far I think the three biggest benefits it has given me are perspective, maturity, and experience. The first two go hand-in-hand. In the college classroom, I am a year older than my peers and I have lived with people who are very different from myself.

This additional insight into myself and others is an enormous advantage in learning theoretical concepts at university and seeing how they are actually implemented or viewed in the world. Experience is something that you cannot ever have a substitute for.

After having spent 6 months teaching and developing English language materials at a local vocational school, I have a much greater understanding of how teaching actually works, in addition to having an increased passion for teaching.

What is your favorite travel memory?

When I was in Senegal during my bridge year with Global Citizen Year during the cooler months - to my host family's chagrin - I started taking showers once every other day. One week I took a shower two days in a row and my host mom, Madeleine, laughed at me, "You're starting to become Senegalese, Tess!" she said.

It was this beautiful zoom-out moment for me - where I could see where I'd come from (a small town in New Jersey) and also where I was - at home in the world, in Mbour, Senegal.

When Madeleine laughed at me and teased me, I felt this power-surge of belonging in this place and love for her. I was Senegalese now! Immersion was working on me.

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

I've learned how to be more solution-oriented-- to look at "problems" with an eye towards the solutions imbedded within. I've learned how to just DO things instead of flipping them over in my head like veggie-burgers.

I've learned a lot from Global Citizen Year staff about maintaining a healthy-work life balance - about how to to retain my human-ness even during stressful times - starting cupcake (gifting) wars with teammates, finding the funny and knowing when I need to take time off to be with family, nature and friends.

What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

Recently, I loved hearing about the full-circle experience of one Ecuador '16 Fellow who volunteered with the Red Cross for her apprenticeship. As a new volunteer she was a bewildered attendee of an intensive wilderness training. Eight-months later, at the tail-end of her experience, she was one of the leaders of the very same training.

Working for the Red Cross was such a powerful experience for her, that when the earthquake hit Ecuador this past spring, she busied herself with earthquake reliefs efforts stateside and was "this close" to hopping on a plane to Ecuador to help out.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

Well, I'm a Senegal alumni so answering this question feels a little like cheating. I would have to say Ecuador. I've been practicing my Spanish recently - and reconnecting to a language makes me want to connect with the people who speak that language.

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

Here are a few of the uncountables that make us unique and that have kept me free of boredom and quite happy since starting with the company in October 2016:

Our culture of innovation. I love how big and bold we think and how quickly these big, bold ideas bloom into reality. It's even more exciting to think big when you know how swiftly and unstoppably your team moves to make ideas materialize.

Lack of organizational hierarchy: I've been struck again and again but how everyone's ideas count and everyone is invited to the table. Our senior leadership team (SLT) listens to our alumni and summer interns as if they were all baby buddhas. Our SLT puts people at ease to be themselves and the end result is spontaneous games of bananagrams.

Here for the right reasons: Everyone who works here is deeply connected to our why - our mission - and this keeps the work joyful and grounded. During a recent global training, not only did we talk about how to retain our commitment to access, we dug deeper into our organization's commitment to equity. We looked at how we can apply an equity lens to our hiring processes, our apprenticeship placements - everything!

Dogs, babies, and cheese. And food-sharing and copious hugs. (Are all deeply ingrained aspects of our workplace culture.)

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

I think strong leadership is key to our success. In particular, I've been struck by how much I've learned from our iconoclastic, wise, warm, and funny lady-bosses. Abby, our CEO, challenges us to keep doing work not only "at work" - but on ourselves and the world.

She went to business school so that she might create a "nonprofit" that runs more like the well-oiled machine of a "for-profit" and continually has her anticipatory antenna tuned to the ideas and innovation of the future. She's a busy person, but I promise, every sentence or two thrown your way will change your day. Recently, she's got me thinking about how I can prioritize presence over productivity.