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Focus only on your own growth.
GapYear is a time for growth and happiness.
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What you can gain from a gap year, according to Park Kalin!
1. You can develop your own abilities and skills.
2. You can explore future career paths.
3. You can regain your lost passion for learning.
4. You can form your own unique worldview.
5. You can impress employers.
6. You can develop crisis management and cost-control skills.
- Book From
Lecture 2. Becoming an adult: Enjoy the gap year
"Take time to properly look at yourself" - Park Kalin
Dreams that end as nouns, dreams that move as verbs
The interdisciplinary and experimental spirit of Pop Couture youth
Young leaders around the world who enjoy gap years
A path that everyone follows, a path that no one has taken
A path that everyone follows / a path that no one has taken
In 2005, with university entrance approaching, Jinsu Park couldn't choose a major. He had no clear dream or goal. While worrying, he happened upon news that physical therapy was a promising field. Thinking this was it, he planned to enroll in physical therapy, but perhaps because of the news the department's competitiveness soared, so he ended up enrolling in clinical pathology.
Because he had been pushed into enrollment, he didn't find studying interesting and enlisted in the military as soon as he finished his freshman year. After discharge, he threw himself into various part-time jobs and volunteer activities but couldn't figure out what he wanted to do. Then one day he came across the concept of a gap year in a magazine.A third-year university student, twenty-five years old. At a time when others were busy preparing for employment with TOEIC tests, earning certifications, and boosting GPAs, he decided to leave for a year to find himself. He started a 'working holiday,' which many foreign students choose as a gap year. After thinking about how to spend this period of working and training abroad, he carefully planned his schedule and made a bucket list. His destination was Australia.
First, he spent two months studying language abroad and learned various gap year tips from local friends. Then, to find a job, he sent over 100 resumes a day to Australian companies. Fortunately, a printing factory contacted him, and there he gained a lot of experience, from operating machines to driving a forklift. On weekends he also participated in various programs such as barista training.
After finishing six months of work, he started traveling Europe with a friend he met locally. After visiting 15 countries in one month, he headed to Southeast Asia, the final stop of his gap year. He went to discover the value of "myself in society" through volunteer work. While staying in Australia, he connected with a volunteer organization in advance and visited an orphanage in Cambodia, where he worked for two weeks assisting with art and physical education activities.
Mr. Park Jinsu gained a spirit of challenge, confidence, and perseverance through his one-year gap year.
"I'm not like other friends who have high TOEIC scores or certifications, but I feel I've gained strengths that are proven simply by my existence. I also discovered what I like and what I'm good at."
He developed a clear goal to promote medical tourism and to live by volunteering in areas lacking medical care. After returning home, he participated in working holiday promotional activities and served as a policy advisory member for the G20 generation at the Blue House. With clearer goals, he was able to obtain the clinical laboratory technologist license—something he had repeatedly failed to get—more easily. He is now active in founding Korea Gap Year with friends to share his valuable experiences.
"Recently, as awareness of gap years has spread, the number of students assessing which program suits them and participating has greatly increased. If this trend continues, I am confident students will live their lives more proactively and be able to design their life paths more clearly."
As mentioned earlier, developed countries actively encourage gap year activities at the national level. They gather parents and hold lectures to explain the various benefits of a gap year. The usefulness of a gap year emphasized by these countries is that it allows one to draw a concrete map of their dreams before choosing a career.
