I want everyone here especially you
students in the room to imagine
something for a second imagine who you
are when you’re not in school now for
many of us here the last time we were
really able to picture this was when we
were about five years old right before
we had started kindergarten and boy has
a lot changed since then it’s really
tricky to prepare for a life outside of
school when you haven’t known one for so
long for those of us that plan on going
to college we often see a direct pathway
from high school to college as our only
option and while in high school
we spend so much time worrying about how
to do activities that will look best on
our college application so much time
worrying about the average a CT score of
this school or the acceptance rate of
that one we end up molding ourselves
into these little College presents
perfectly wrapped with a bow to match
but what happens when we take away that
pressure when we stop trying to mold
ourselves in such a way what happens
when we take time off of school and time
on life well that’s exactly what I
decided to do the spring of my senior
year in high school I deferred admission
from Overland College which meant that I
had a seat reserved in the following
years class and I took a road that was a
little bit more unconventional for
someone in my graduating class well I
did three things actually I first
traveled around Nepal and India for
three months where I where I did
backpacking
camping staying with hoes families
living at a Buddhist monastery
I’m all through a program called where
there be dragons when I finished that up
and came back to the United States I
moved to South Lake Tahoe where I got my
first full-time job working at a ski
resort and got to try out skiing which I
didn’t really get to do much growing up
here in flat Northwest Ohio after I had
you know finished up the ski season and
saved up some money I went on a two and
a half month solo backpacking trip
around Europe where I stayed with
different friends and family also kind
strangers and at hostels for the rest of
the time now I had an admittedly hard
time feeling inspired in high school I
felt really crushed by this pressure to
conform to the normative ideas of what
it meant to be successful all based on
what I found to be what could help me
get into a good school
you know we have this system that’s
really hardwired on a certain model of
what it means to be successful but what
if that measurement doesn’t feel right
for you think about how different you
are from the person sitting next to you
and then think about how different you
are from any random high schooler in
this country how can we have one set of
expectations for us all what if you have
a bud of inspiration inside of you that
is just waiting to blossom but it
doesn’t get the right amount of sunlight
and water in the school setting well I
like to think that when I took my gap
beer I gave myself that sunlight
I realized so much more about myself
than I ever could have imagined and as
much as I would love to rave about the
spectacular extravagant moments that I
had like watching the Sun rise over the
Himalayas or jumping into the ocean at
night to realize that there’s a trail of
sparkling glowing phytoplankton
following my every movement which
unfortunately I don’t have a picture of
the moments that were equally or even
more powerful where the ickey the
mundane the challenging moments like
picking leeches off of my feet while
resting my tired bones after a long day
of hiking or waking up at 4:30 in the
morning to drive across a mountain
snowstorm just to go work selling
tickets for eight hours or even just
wandering a city all by myself
and feeling so alone yet so wrapped up
in gratitude I could go on forever about
all of the things I learned from this
experience but I want to try to convey
to you some of the biggest ones first of
all there are so many ways for one
person to be and I am more capable than
I ever imagined you know I didn’t get a
perfect score on my AC T and that didn’t
feel good when I was in high school but
hey I traveled for two and a half months
as a solo 18 year old woman and I think
that’s pretty cool I am more strong than
I ever imagined I threw myself into
these personally uncharted territories
and I navigated them
I felt the burn of my legs as I climb
mountains
I felt the struggle of my mind wandering
as I tried to meditate
and I felt jitters come up from my body
as I stepped off a train to a new city
where I knew no one and tried to make
friends I learned from doing
no one ever teaches you how to
communicate with people that don’t share
any spoken language with you but I
realized I’m more connected to everyone
across the world than I ever imagined I
mean I think it’s really wonderful that
as humans we can figure out ways to
communicate we dance we play we smile we
share food we look into each other’s
eyes it’s so comforting and invigorating
all at the same time to realize this may
be the biggest lesson that I learned
though was that saying yes to the
unexpected no matter what that
unexpected is for you could bring you so
much more joy than you ever imagined I
am now in my second semester at Oberlin
College and I am thriving I feel
rejuvenated and stimulated academically
I feel more comfortable socializing with
people and living on my own than I ever
did before and taking all of these
experiences with me every single day I
feel more rooted in the world than I
ever did but most of all I’m trying to
continue that lesson of striving for the
unexpected and thinking in unexpected
ways so I want to bring this back to all
of you by saying if you want to go to
college right after high school that’s
great I want you to do what feels right
for you but when I was in high school I
didn’t know that this was really an
option and I really wanted to open your
mind up to this logistical ewwww
you can defer you can apply to college
like normal and then defer for a year
like I did or you can wait to apply to
college until you’re on your gap year
and also taking a gap year can mean so
many things it doesn’t have to look even
remotely like what I did you can do
internships get a job volunteer travel
learn a new skill or cultivate a hobby
that you have and also know that there
are so many online resources available
so you can to help you figure out how to
talk to your parents about taking a gap
year how to plan your gap year and there
are also a lot of scholarships available
to make this financially accessible so
I’ve always taken pride and having a
little dose of unconventional and
unconventionality about me but as far as
gap years go
I would be so happy to see this become
the conventional so who are you when
you’re not in school thank you
[Applause]
students in the room to imagine
something for a second imagine who you
are when you’re not in school now for
many of us here the last time we were
really able to picture this was when we
were about five years old right before
we had started kindergarten and boy has
a lot changed since then it’s really
tricky to prepare for a life outside of
school when you haven’t known one for so
long for those of us that plan on going
to college we often see a direct pathway
from high school to college as our only
option and while in high school
we spend so much time worrying about how
to do activities that will look best on
our college application so much time
worrying about the average a CT score of
this school or the acceptance rate of
that one we end up molding ourselves
into these little College presents
perfectly wrapped with a bow to match
but what happens when we take away that
pressure when we stop trying to mold
ourselves in such a way what happens
when we take time off of school and time
on life well that’s exactly what I
decided to do the spring of my senior
year in high school I deferred admission
from Overland College which meant that I
had a seat reserved in the following
years class and I took a road that was a
little bit more unconventional for
someone in my graduating class well I
did three things actually I first
traveled around Nepal and India for
three months where I where I did
backpacking
camping staying with hoes families
living at a Buddhist monastery
I’m all through a program called where
there be dragons when I finished that up
and came back to the United States I
moved to South Lake Tahoe where I got my
first full-time job working at a ski
resort and got to try out skiing which I
didn’t really get to do much growing up
here in flat Northwest Ohio after I had
you know finished up the ski season and
saved up some money I went on a two and
a half month solo backpacking trip
around Europe where I stayed with
different friends and family also kind
strangers and at hostels for the rest of
the time now I had an admittedly hard
time feeling inspired in high school I
felt really crushed by this pressure to
conform to the normative ideas of what
it meant to be successful all based on
what I found to be what could help me
get into a good school
you know we have this system that’s
really hardwired on a certain model of
what it means to be successful but what
if that measurement doesn’t feel right
for you think about how different you
are from the person sitting next to you
and then think about how different you
are from any random high schooler in
this country how can we have one set of
expectations for us all what if you have
a bud of inspiration inside of you that
is just waiting to blossom but it
doesn’t get the right amount of sunlight
and water in the school setting well I
like to think that when I took my gap
beer I gave myself that sunlight
I realized so much more about myself
than I ever could have imagined and as
much as I would love to rave about the
spectacular extravagant moments that I
had like watching the Sun rise over the
Himalayas or jumping into the ocean at
night to realize that there’s a trail of
sparkling glowing phytoplankton
following my every movement which
unfortunately I don’t have a picture of
the moments that were equally or even
more powerful where the ickey the
mundane the challenging moments like
picking leeches off of my feet while
resting my tired bones after a long day
of hiking or waking up at 4:30 in the
morning to drive across a mountain
snowstorm just to go work selling
tickets for eight hours or even just
wandering a city all by myself
and feeling so alone yet so wrapped up
in gratitude I could go on forever about
all of the things I learned from this
experience but I want to try to convey
to you some of the biggest ones first of
all there are so many ways for one
person to be and I am more capable than
I ever imagined you know I didn’t get a
perfect score on my AC T and that didn’t
feel good when I was in high school but
hey I traveled for two and a half months
as a solo 18 year old woman and I think
that’s pretty cool I am more strong than
I ever imagined I threw myself into
these personally uncharted territories
and I navigated them
I felt the burn of my legs as I climb
mountains
I felt the struggle of my mind wandering
as I tried to meditate
and I felt jitters come up from my body
as I stepped off a train to a new city
where I knew no one and tried to make
friends I learned from doing
no one ever teaches you how to
communicate with people that don’t share
any spoken language with you but I
realized I’m more connected to everyone
across the world than I ever imagined I
mean I think it’s really wonderful that
as humans we can figure out ways to
communicate we dance we play we smile we
share food we look into each other’s
eyes it’s so comforting and invigorating
all at the same time to realize this may
be the biggest lesson that I learned
though was that saying yes to the
unexpected no matter what that
unexpected is for you could bring you so
much more joy than you ever imagined I
am now in my second semester at Oberlin
College and I am thriving I feel
rejuvenated and stimulated academically
I feel more comfortable socializing with
people and living on my own than I ever
did before and taking all of these
experiences with me every single day I
feel more rooted in the world than I
ever did but most of all I’m trying to
continue that lesson of striving for the
unexpected and thinking in unexpected
ways so I want to bring this back to all
of you by saying if you want to go to
college right after high school that’s
great I want you to do what feels right
for you but when I was in high school I
didn’t know that this was really an
option and I really wanted to open your
mind up to this logistical ewwww
you can defer you can apply to college
like normal and then defer for a year
like I did or you can wait to apply to
college until you’re on your gap year
and also taking a gap year can mean so
many things it doesn’t have to look even
remotely like what I did you can do
internships get a job volunteer travel
learn a new skill or cultivate a hobby
that you have and also know that there
are so many online resources available
so you can to help you figure out how to
talk to your parents about taking a gap
year how to plan your gap year and there
are also a lot of scholarships available
to make this financially accessible so
I’ve always taken pride and having a
little dose of unconventional and
unconventionality about me but as far as
gap years go
I would be so happy to see this become
the conventional so who are you when
you’re not in school thank you
[Applause]
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