Program Reviews

- awesome financial aid
- & automatically entered me to be eligible for the GCY/Eugene Lang College Fellowship, which I am now graduating from in 3 semesters on campus in new york :) !

- amazing human connections & access to learning communities
- counsellor during one training seminar was very helpful and necessary for myself and others... maybe have one around all the time.. perhaps a local mentor :)

"There are 7 billion 46 million people on the planet and most of us have the audacity to think we matter."
*The opening line from a Watsky poem I recited to my global cohort after 8 months abroad...
As my eyes glaze the room I bear witness to the most inspiring minds of my generation. With our own unique world views our aspiration's are as diverse as the places we've just called home this last year.
The end of a chapter set to disembark back to our homes to pursue these dreams I realized this experience was only the beginning. The catalyst- a modern day rite of passage in our globalized world. I would come to say during my performance "I have the audacity to think I matter!"

Global Citizen Year is a program that provides graduating high school students from around the world to experience a life-shaping year in a country drastically different from their own. For me, living in Senegal for 8 months was just about learning how to speak Wolof or to interact appropriately with my host family and community but it was also about putting myself in my stretch zone and learning to test my limits. I learned how to create a home no matter where I am and I learned how to belong among people who are so seemingly different from myself. Global Citizen Year guided me in learning how to handle my challenges in a culturally conscious, mindful way and how to be intentional in my actions. Senegal taught me how to be aware of and empathetic towards those around me. And I ended my year with a powerful sense of meaning and passion toward Life.

Global Citizen Year offers a pure in-country experience. This is not a vacation. This program is about personal growth and understanding. This program is challenging, but the challenge brings infinite rewards. I cannot imagine who I would be without everything I learned with Global Citizen Year as my guide. I would recommend this experience to anyone because it is so valuable. But, make sure to inform yourself of the values of Global Citizen Year and what your bridge year will look like.

The saving grace of Global Citizen Year is it's on-the-grounds staff. I will always admire what they set out to do as a social enterprise and the unique emphasis on compassion that they bring to all aspects of their program. Additionally, they do a phenomenal job at drawing together a diverse group of participants from all US (and sometimes foreign) backgrounds. People from my year currently range from attending Harvard to community college to working full-time in order to save for classes. This being said, I am incredibly conflicted about recommending this program. Personally, I regret my choice to move to Ecuador for my first year after high school, particularly as I received no financial aid and have less resources to draw on now for my degree. I might come to a point where I no longer feel this way, but I haven't gotten there yet. When I finally came back to the States, I had was diagnosed with clinical depression, frequent panic attacks, and mild PTSD. I know of a handful of others as well who have suffered mentally both during, after, and as a result of their bridge year with Global Citizen. Starting back into the world of academia, I have felt continuously handicapped due to my damaged mental state. I lived in relatively intense isolation for over six months with no meaningful relationships built or skills developed. My apprenticeship was non-existent. Asides from 2-3 people, the Fellows in my region had no work. We spent the majority of our free time in a food court at the mall in the nearest city. My experience might be A-typical, it might not. To some extent, it still might be better than if I had gone with a different program. At the very least, Global Citizen has a plan to be the best, even if they do not always manage to implement that plan. The program is still figuring out how to make the apprentice/host-family model work. Expect to do the majority of the grudge work yourself and if you find yourself gelling well with the other Fellows in your region, count yourself blessed that you have that social inclusion to fall back on because not everyone in the program does. I want to have loved Global Citizen. They give you every reason to do so. Indeed, I feel conflicted writing this because I do admire the staff greatly and do not want to diminish their efforts. However, I do not love my experience and I feel obliged to represent those former participants who's memories might resonate with my writing. I do not write this review to discourage the reader from charting their own path through life and their education. A gap/bridge year at least should be considered by everyone, even if it is not for everyone. My viewpoint is merely a part of the larger puzzle and the people who read this and do not get slighted or discouraged are the people that Global Citizen wants and needs.

(note: gooverseas requires me to select a "recommend" or "not recommend response" on its review form, my selection is arbitrary)

What sets Global Citizen Year apart from its host peers in the travel abroad industry is its acute focus on leadership development, immersion and reflection. The longevity in which the program participants stay in one place enables a deeper, more reflective sort of travel experience, and the tools Global Citizen Year provides in assisting its students in processing and supporting this learning is outstanding. For seven months, I awoke in the same hut, next to the same family, in the same Senegalese village, spoke the same language, and truly developed relationships and roots in a singular community. When it comes to immersion and travel abroad, the depth and breadth of the immersion experience with Global is truly exceptional, and was the singular most rewarding and meaningful aspect of my time abroad.

Because of this experience, I am more self-aware, more culturally and self competent, resilient, courageous and reflective. My year with Global Citizen Year redefined and helped me to articulate so many central elements of my life - values, practices, habits. I could not be more grateful to have had this experience.

When my sister came to visit me four months into my stay, at the Christmas-New Year time, she looked me in the eye as we sat by the river where I bathed every day, "You are so you. You are becoming more you since you've left." We looked at each other and I felt proud. December had been one of the many hard moments. I had not anticipated that the eight months would be so hard but it was, mixed into life in a small village and many layers of culture shock, as well as culture miracles. I needed to be pushed out my comfort zone, to wake up to rooster crowing as my host mother starts the hour-long breakfast making routine, to trek through the hot, humid Amazonian day delivering medicine to the patients in remote village, to come back home to before sundown to get ready for bed at 7:30PM. I needed to cut away from everything I have assumed of myself and just redefine myself with words from a foreign dictionary. And that is exactly what I did and I could not be more grateful for having this intentional, challenging, soul-searching year.

For seven months, I slept beside my suitcase. It was an experience intensified by a bed lined with borrowed sheets, strangers that knew each other very well, and a television that didn't speak my language. At eighteen, I was gathering valuable data for an environmental NGO in Brazil while living in the rural communities benefitted by its efficient cookstove project. I assisted on numerous tasks requiring a field perspective, meanwhile my principal function was administering data collection and entry. The responsibilities were tailored to overcome the challenges of a developing country; the insights they provided, concepts my books haven't quite managed to articulate in text.

I learned that to even begin contributing to a dent of positive change in someone else's life, you have to allow those you're serving to affect the same in yours. By way of my apprenticeship, I visited over two hundred homes and spoke to equally as many housewives. Women that not only in their words but in their actions exemplified strength. Their stories still encourage unconditional resilience in my own endeavors; an asset that far surpasses, in value and proportion, the benefits of my temporary presence in their kitchens.

My Global Citizen Year gave relevance to my ability of easily connecting with societies, cultures, and languages. And it provides that opportunity to all of its participants. (Whether you're working in a medical facility or a preschool classroom.) I'd recommend the experience to anyone! If when you disregard your doubts associated with you travel experience, the program's cost, and even your academic record, you're still passionate about becoming a participant: apply! You won't regret it.

Taking a Global Citizen Year has been the best decision I've made in all the crazy-life-altering choices I've faced. The idea of traveling to a country whose culture is so different then mine while leaving my family behind both fascinated and terrified me, but was well worth it in the end.

I lived with a Senegalese family (the same one as Jordan Ricker, whose wonderful interview you can read on the next page) in Mboro, Senegal, a city on the Northern coast of Senegal. I had six siblings and shared a room with two of them (my sisters). For my apprenticeship, I taught at a preschool everyday, called Case des Tout-Petits. I've always loved working with children and teaching at an actual preschool (in Wolof!) was fascinating and tons of fun!

When I was first applying, the tuition scared me. I knew that even if I was accepted, there was no way I could ever afford to go. But the same day I found out I was accepted, I also learned I was awarded a fully-funded fellowship, meaning Global Citizen Year was paying for my entire year abroad! And on top of all that, full fellowships go out to over 20% of the 80% of Fellows who receive generous grants from Global Citizen Year.

The most difficult part of my journey was being away from home, but I quickly realized that while I had temporarily left my family behind, I was being welcomed into another ones arms.

If you're not ready to go to college, if you want to dip your toes into different fields of learning (volunteering at farms, schools, hospitals, businesses), if you want to meet amazing people and become truly aware of your self and your potential impact in this big, beautiful world, or if you just want to have an awesome year to share stories with your friends back home, then apply to be a Global Citizen Year. What do you have to lose?!

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions: wanderingmiss13@gmail.com

Global Citizen Year is my second family. During my bridge year, I lived in the Amazon Rainforest with a host family and interned at a rural health clinic. I had a great family that consisted of my parents, four siblings, and three dogs (fun fact: They named one of the dogs after me!). I was also surrounded by a great cohort of other fellows who lived in my province. Even after finishing my year in Ecuador, I still keep in contact with my host family (via Facebook) and the other fellows. The bonds I have developed with the other fellows continue to impact me as I start my first year of college. Every other week, I meet up with a fellow who goes to school in my area. The most difficult part for me was during the holiday season. We are not allowed to fly back home (except for emergencies!), so I was extremely homesick.