SpainExcavating Roman artifacts in the Balearic Islands
To Uluru, the center of the world! 9 nights, 10 daysAustraliaOutback off-road trip
With Harvard studentsUgandaClean water volunteer project
From CNN's 100 HeroesCambodiaNGO organization
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Seeing various gap year programs that operate around the world
Haven't you ever thought about this?
How was this made?
So we prepared it.
Interview with a gap year program developer
"Gap year programHowwas it made?"
Q.Please give a brief self-introduction!
Hello, I travel around the world creating gap year programs.
To create a restaurant management internship in Europe, I sometimes walk into top restaurants, and to create NGO volunteer activities in Asia, I travel across Asia looking for NGOs.
In this way, Korean young people...DreamI travel around the world to create gap year programs that allow people to dream. I am a gap year program developer at Korea Gap Year.
Q.What is the goal of offering gap year programs to young people?
청년들 개개인의 성격이 다르고 환경이 다르고 이에 따른 진로와 꿈이 다르다고 생각해요.
각기 다른 청년들이 가진 꿈의 수만큼이나 다양한 프로그램을 만들어서 그들이 원하는 진로를 체험하고 꿈에 대해 꿈 꿀 수 있도록 하는 것이 갭이어 프로그램의 목표입니다.
Q.Currently, Korea Gap Year offers about 100 programs.
What criteria are used to plan and develop these programs?
크게 fivecriteria.
첫째, 배울 수 있는지
Second, whether there is someone who understands the characteristics unique to Koreans and can serve as a mentor.
Third, whether it is safe.
Fourth, whether there is time to reflect and find oneself, not just work.
Fifth, whether participants can gain something new from the local community where they will live.
All of these established criteria must be met.
Q.How do gap year programs differ from other internship or volunteer programs?
갭이어 프로그램은 두 가지 특성을 가지고 있어요.
1.Distinctiveness
For example, if you could intern at a bank for a few months, at first you might want the position because of the title and compete hard for it, but when you actually do the internship you realize it doesn't help you. In most cases you don't get to do real practical work and end up doing nominal intern tasks.
However, interns working locally through the gap year programperform practical work.
You can run a restaurant in Australia in your own style and create pieces with artisans at a leather workshop in France.
2.Perfection
All gap year programs, including internships and volunteer work, have an orientation. Some last a single day, while others last more than a week.After orientation and upon arriving on site, we offer missions that focus on personal character and leisure or curricula that allow participants to concentrate on themselves. We also provide a one-time resume consultation for gappers returning from their gap year, offering practical methods to help them discover their dreams.
Q.How are gap year programs developed?
First, we research institutions, organizations, NGOs, and groups around the world.
Of course, we prioritize discovering already vetted places, and among the remaining hundreds, we approach those that share our vision and values to gauge their interest.
If, through these steps, we determine a place can teach young people, we schedule a meeting and, no matter where in the world it is, visit in person to talk, verify, experience, and validate it before making a final decision. Then we work with that organization to localize and customize the program for Korean youth. What may be normal for European participants can be uncomfortable for Korean participants, so we adjust such things one by one.
Gap year programs developed in this way and brought to Korea are refined and designed by planners and marketers before being released.
Q.What is the most difficult part of the program development process?
As I mentioned earlier, if we believe a place will benefit young people, we will go there no matter where it is.
Moreover, if a place has a reputation and global recognition, we'll even seek out a tiny island in the middle of the sea.
Once we visited the world's oldest candy shop. It was a place with a long history and a renowned artisan.
We traveled across the sea to a mountain valley, over 20 arduous hours, and although that place could technically provide excellent instruction, we judged it difficult to share an emotional connection with young people and that participants would not gain more than technical skills. Finishing the meeting in 20 minutes and returning to Korea, the sense of emptiness and disappointment was indescribable.
Q.Conversely, when do you feel the greatest sense of reward during program development?
I think program development is, in a way, like searching for the most ideal utopia.
The process of finding it isn't easy, but you can tell as soon as you open the doors of an institution and step inside whether it's a place where young people can come together to carry out projects and dream.That momentI am truly happy.
Q.Which of the gap year programs you planned are you most attached to, and why?
These days, the one I'm most attached to is 'Gap Year House'.
Actually, I wanted to create many good programs that could be run in Korea, but I ran into many practical difficulties.
Smooth communication and coordination with institutions was difficult. Despite these challenges, I continued to want to create gap year programs that are easily accessible domestically, and in the Gap Year House I created, young people...talk about each other's dreams and plan their futuresSeeing them live that way, I'm genuinely happy these days.
Q.Please tell me how to fully make use of a gap year program.
Gap Year is a global culture that takes different forms in each country.
In some countries, if you say you are working and ask for a meal, people may get angry and accuse you of disrespecting their work; in others, they value youthful boldness. In this way, when you go on a gap year, you'll discover that people differ in how they educate, work, and live. Suchhaving an open mind that sees and accepts the wider world.That is truly a great way to embrace new worlds and knowledge, and it is how to get the most out of a gap year program.
Q.What are your future plans and goals?
We will gather more great programs from around the world.
We'll develop more diverse and complete programs so that Korea's varied young people, each with their own identity, can achieve their dreams. Also, we want to becomeGap Yeara company that creates a Gap Year culture.
Q.Any final words you'd like to leave?
If reading this makes you feel even a little 'shouldn't I be doing something' or 'shouldn't I take time like this too,' then just do it.
If you don't, you'll keep reading things like this and getting excited without changing—tomorrow and the day after will look just like today.
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