A Gap Year Changes Lives

These testimonials just came in this week. When the Gap Year becomes a cultural norm in the U.S., we'll be a much more compassionate and respectful culture.

"As an adult who spent her junior year in high school as a Rotary International exchange student in Belgium, I can personally attest to the power of foreign travel in transforming young people's lives. After that year in Europe I was hooked and eager to find out what the rest of the world looked, smelled, tasted and felt like. Now, I can't imagine working in a field that only allowed me one or two weeks of vacation a year. I'm still working as an English teacher and it looks like my next post might be in Oman, in the Gulf! I'm very excited about what you are doing with the Gap year project, and just wanted to let you know that I support it wholeheartedly. I will most likely be blogging about my experience in Oman or wherever I end up, and would love to share some of my experience via the LGG website. Take care!"

"Hi Rita, I just read your post about writing about our experiences in a gap year. I didn't complete a gap year per say, but I traveled through Europe for three weeks after high school. That gave me the travel bug. Then I studied abroad for the summer on two different occasions in college. I worked for a year and just came back from a month in Africa. I would be glad to tell students about these trips. I'm a teacher and my fifth grade students love seeing pictures outside of our little town. Where should I post something like this? Thanks for sharing this movement. Not enough people are interested in the world around us!"

"I am the parent of a daughter who has just completed a year in Ecuador with World Teach and who will leaving in less than two weeks for a second year in Bangladesh. After graduate school, I spent nearly three years living and teaching in Venezuela. The experience was life altering and I encouraged both my children to live outside the US during or after their formal education. My children have learned respect, patience, flexibility, perspective, humor, openness, relationship building, observation, and how to open their hearts to other other cultures. I welcome the opportunity to encourage other young people and their families to have the courage and curiosity to live a life of discovery and fulfillment."

We're a movement and we need everyone who cares to spread the word!

Gap Year Volunteers

If you agree that an international Gap Year is a life changing experience, please support the movement. It's a win, win, win. The participant, the country, and the world.

In the next months we are going to want volunteers in communities all across the country. Please send an e-mail to: info@letsgetglobal.org. If you have special skills that you think would be especially useful, please let us know. When you sign up, we'll send you more information.

There are dozens of ways you can help....ongoing jobs and one-time jobs. But before you sign up, please check our other site. We've set it up to be a central clearing house...for students, parents, educators.....and anyone else who cares. www.letsgetglobal.org.

Thanks. Rita

Join the Gap Year Movement

As I write this blog encouraging young people to do an international Gap Year, I am in Mexico watching spectacular fireworks in the U.S.......on television. With tears in my eyes. We are an extraordinary country.

The Fourth is a holiday celebrating the rights and freedoms of all U.S. citizens.

The Statue of Liberty is on the screen, a symbol of a country that has historically welcomed immigrants, "the tired, the hungry, the poor, the wretched masses yearning to be free." We're a population built on the skills, the contributions, the dreams of people from all over the world. Most of us are just a few generations away from our immigrant ancestors.

Because of our open arms and the people we've welcomed, we've become world leaders. But history has brought us to a new era....a global one. If we are to continue as world leaders, we have to know, understand, and respect the world we want to lead.

Our leaders of the future will be drawn from today's youth. If you want to be one of those leaders, DO A GAP YEAR!

Check out our other Gap Year site,

http://www.letsgetglobal.org has all the information you need to explore your dreams of an international journey. And if you are a parent or an educator, we have some information for you too. A Gap Year really is a life-changing experience. Education shouldn't be trapped in a classroom; there's a world out there. Expand your mind, your world, your heart. Do a Gap Year.

And when you go to the site, please check 'Like" and "+1"

See you there. Love, Rita

The Gap Year Movement

Hello and welcome to The Gap Year Site. We hope you'll help us spread the word. Maybe you'll be inspired to do a Gap Year yourself.

We're calling the movement, Let's Get Global. All the information you need to do that Gap Year is on: www.letsgetglobal.org. Come on over.

Doing an international Gap Year between high school and college changes lives.

• A Gap Year builds character, opens eyes and hearts, and builds respect and understanding for everyone in the world.

• College becomes more meaningful. More and more colleges are recommending that incoming freshmen take a year off to discover themselves and the world.

• A resume with international experience is a major plus in today's global economy. Crossing cultures and sharing lives creates perspective, flexibility, and respect. The corporate world understands that if the U.S. wants to be a leader in the world, we need to understand the world we want to lead.

Find out more: www.letsgetglobal.org

A New Site for Let's Get Global

We've moved to a new site, with all the information anyone needs to research a Gap Year: www.letsgetglobal.org

When we first set up this site, it was to let people know about our mission...and to make it possible to receive online donations. Our mission hasn't changed, but we've come a long way since then.

The mission of Let's Get Global is to encourage and assist recent high school graduates from all segments of the U.S. population to do an international Gap Year before the next phase of their lives.

Our project is two-fold:

1. To create a site that will serve as a central clearing house that will offer all the information anyone needs to create a personal Gap Year.

2. To design a marketing and public relations campaign that will introduce the Gap Year to the US population and to drive traffic to the site.


So....we have created a new Gap Year site. Please stop by. www.letsgetglobal.org

Thanks. We'll see you over there.

FINALLY AN UPDATE

I'm back to updating this blog, as well as our related website LetsGetGlobal.org and my website Rita Golden Gelman - Female Nomad. The donation information below is still good. We'd love your support. Thanks.

Let's Get Global: Becoming Citizens of the World

What is LET'S GET GLOBAL?

We're a national movement whose mission is to encourage and assist youth in the United States to have international experiences, particularly during the year between high school and the next phase of their lives.

We will achieve our mission by educating the youth, parents, and educational establishment about the benefits of international experiences, by informing people of existing programs, and by making the opportunity available to all segments of the population.

Our vision is that an international experience becomes a popular practice in the United States.


How does LET'S GET GLOBAL fit with existing programs?

We are not a program. We are a national movement whose goal is to create a new mindset in the country. Through media, events, social networking, and school visits, we will instill in kids, parents, and the educational establishment the idea that in today's world, experiential education beyond our borders is crucial.

We will provide a comprehensive website that presents testimonials from kids who have done gap years, describes the many programs available (cross-referenced by type of program, length, and destination), offers information and tools to help people organize, plan, and follow through on their own independent travel, and provides guidance for those seeking funding. Additionally the website will list colleges that will give credit for overseas projects and encourage deferrals of the freshman year. We will also be listing companies that consider this type of international experience a plus on a resume.

We will also be producing a documentary in collaboration with students at George Washington University.

First exciting steps

On June 20th, in Washington, DC, we launched our movement in an all-day brainstorming session. We had more than forty-five representatives from exchange organizations, gap year programs, government agencies, youth groups, public relations companies, and high school counselors, as well as other dynamic, creative individuals committed to this effort.

We now have the beginning of committees who will work in the four segments of the LET'S GET GLOBAL movement:
>Public Relations and Marketing
>Website
>Funding
>Volunteer Management

If you would like to volunteer in any of these areas, please send us an e-mail:
info@letsgetglobal.org. Let us know if you have special expertise and please tell us where you are located.

Have a look at an article about us in Ethical Traveler:
http://www.ethicaltraveler.org/news_story.php?id=1138

Donations and support

We received $10,000 as starter money which paid for a coordinator and the June 20th meeting. Now we are working out budgets for the various segments of our work. We are actively applying to foundations for grant money to carry out our projects. But foundations take many months to process grant applications, and we would like to get started immediately. We are hoping that those of you who support our cause will contribute at whatever level you can. Donations are deductible for eligible taxpayers. You can donate right here by clicking the button or use the alternate methods below.

To donate by check, make your check out to "US Servas f/b/o Let's Get Global" and mail to:
Let's Get Global
1125 16th Street, Suite 201
Arcata, CA 95521-5585

To donate by credit/debit card, please supply the following items:
The words "Let's Get Global" (to ensure proper allocation)
Donor's name, address, email, and telephone
Donation amount
Card number
Expiration date
3-digit security code

via:

• email: donations@letsgetglobal.org
  
• phone: 1-707-825-1714
• mail: see donation address above