About Us
Mission
To maximize the potential of young adults, through accessible and meaningful gap year opportunities.
Vision
A semester of gap year time, with access to college credit & financial aid, for every high school graduate.
We want to see more Americans taking intentional time away from "classroom" before accruing college debt, starting their careers, and choosing a life-path, in order to facilitate perspective, purpose, and maturation. We believe that the life-experience gained from travel at this opportune time in life, sets students up for success in the real world. Taking an intentional gap year has been shown to increase college graduation rates, improve GPAs, increase participation in campus activities, and overall increase career satisfaction. Visit our Data & Benefits page to see the research - or ask any gap year alum!
What is the Gap Year Association?
Founded in 2012, the Gap Year Association is the only national nonprofit working to coordinate the growing Gap Year Movement. As a public benefit not-for-profit Association with members, we believe that all intentional gap years have significant and positive practical outcomes, whether independent or as part of a formal program. The GYA focuses on four core areas: Research, Equity & Access, Resources, and finally Standards and Accreditation. Each year we advance gap year research with member-initiatives, an annual State of the Field Survey, and regularly direct larger research efforts such as the 2015 and 2020 National Alumni Survey. We also believe strongly that young adults of all walks of life benefit from an intentional gap year and thus work to promote scholarships, as well as inclusivity efforts within our membership and the broader community. In fact, it is our aspiration that all gap year students should have access to a semester worth of transferable college credit that is supported with access to FAFSA dollars - college may not be right for everyone, but a quality gap year will profoundly impact many more than just the student who takes one. Finally, the GYA is the Standards Development Organization for Gap Year Education in the US, as recognized by the US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
Why the GYA Matters
No one else is working with colleges on behalf of the entire gap year movement, to open the doors of college credit and FAFSA ... If we want to see more people taking gap years, then we need a larger advocacy body that can be objective in its accreditations and resources. At the GYA, our strong belief is that our planet, our country, and all the people therein will benefit from a population that take appropriate responsibility for themselves and their community, and that this is best accomplished with real-world, experiential learning. Certainly, all the research is confirming that the majority of young Americans are experiencing higher orders of depression and anxiety, inevitably spending their high school years running towards adulthood only to find the world of Adulting looks uninspired and overwhelming. One of the primary ways our work is expressed is by highlighting the outcomes gap year alumni and their parents experience; notably that this particular window for a young person - typically starting at the age of legal adulthood - is arguably the richest time for resilience-cultivation, self-awareness, global understanding, and career-exploration. This window in a young person’s life frequently represents their first opportunity to experience a future of purpose and productivity … challenging comfort zones to understand that the world is much much bigger than their own experience; and more practically deciding whether a college degree is necessary for their chosen career. In fact, our data is clear that 86% of gap year graduates, once they hit their career, are satisfied or very satisfied - a stark contrast to the national average. But, perhaps most compelling is that students who take a gap year, perform better academically; are 80% more likely to vote and be civically engaged; and inevitably more prepared for the global workforce.
Our partners in this vision include:
Ethan Knight
Executive Director & Founder, Gap Year Association
Ethan Knight,
Executive Director
Ethan Knight is from Portland, Oregon. A graduate of Catlin Gabel high school and Willamette University, he is also a "Gapper." Ethan has been working within the world of gap years since 1996, when he took his own gap year to India, Nepal and Tibet. Back in those days the only options to taking an official gap year was through the Center for Interim Programs, and that's exactly how he first heard about this strange thing called a gap year. After an inspired talk at his high school, he started a conversation with Interim Programs to discuss what would eventually turn into his own sojourn. Ethan graduated from Willamette University - a small liberal arts university - with majors in English and Philosophy, and a minor in Environmental Sciences. Immediately after graduating he went to work for LEAPNOW as an intern where his passion for education and humanity really took root. With the help of a few key mentors along the way, primarily Sam Bull, Ethan eventually led programs for groups of gap year students through Latin America and Asia, finally working his way up to Assistant Director of the organization.
After seven years at LEAPNOW, Ethan returned home to Portland, Oregon to found Carpe Diem Education. With a unique relationship to Portland State University, a bridge was built to this idea of a "gap year", and a separate nonprofit gap year program created to work with lower income youth in Portland called Carpe Mundi, that could access credit and federal scholarships from gap years.
He's a fan of a variety of sayings that have emerged over the years:
- Passion is a better predictor of success than IQ will ever be
- In the absence of information, people will create their own
- Mankind, for better or worse, tends to recreate what we've known
- Mankind can only dream as big as we've seen
- Meet each student where they're at
- The whole is much more than the sum of its parts
Dianna Hahn, MA
Director of Education,
Gap Year Association
Dianna Hahn
Director of Education
Dianna's journey with gap years began during her own gap year when she deferred a semester at college to live in Paris as an au pair. This sparked her interest in travel and experiential education. She went on to study abroad, and pursue a masters in International Education as a result of a last minute decision to do something different before heading to college! Now as an international educator with more than 15 years of experience working with youth, volunteers, artists, and educators in both experiential and international setting, she is a strong advocate for Gap Year programming. As the director of Global Routes and previously its partner organization, Windsor Mountain International Travel, Dianna has worked with hundreds of families to support students in meaningful educational programs. She also was the director of Clowns Without Borders, an organization bringing artists into areas of crisis to provide performances and workshops for children. In recent years she has been consulting for various international education organizations with a focus on staffing, strategic planning, and crisis management. Her main focus has always been to build community across cultures and encourage long lasting friendships across the world.
Dianna has organized educational programs for youth and adults throughout the US and in more than 20 countries. She has traveled to Samoa to research the culture of tattooing, facilitated leadership and service learning programs in the Grenadines, paraded in the streets of Port Au Prince, Haiti with a band of clowns and musicians and collaborated with performing artists in Northern India to perform for migrant worker children. She loves spending time with her family outdoors and dabbling in the garden when she gets a chance!
Dianna holds an MA, International Education, School for International Training. BA, Anthropology, Connecticut College.
Vanessa Zuidema
GYA Operations and Membership
Vanessa Zuidema
GYA Operations & Membership
Vanessa Zuidema is a global education leader who is passionate about experiential education as a means to enhance individual growth and transform higher education. She currently supports the Gap Year Association through special project work and serves on the Higher Education and Outreach Committees. Her own journey in this field began with an adventure to Martinique after her freshman year at university where she became enamored with the rich blend of languages, culture, and community.
Vanessa has more than 10 years of experience directing English language schools and international university partnerships in New York. In these roles she was responsible for ensuring the success of diverse functions including student services and operations, financial performance, academics, and accommodation management.
Vanessa has lived and worked in francophone countries in the Caribbean and Europe. In 2009 she completed her graduate thesis on education disparities in post-apartheid South Africa. Vanessa was born in the Hudson Valley, New York and currently resides in Connecticut with her family. She enjoys cooking, running, and playing with her two young children.
Vanessa holds an MA in International Education from New York University and a BA from James Madison University.
Elizabeth Bezark
GYA Board of Directors,
Global Partnerships & Access, Communications,
Fair Trade Learning Committee, Co-Founder,
Standards & Accreditation Committee,
DEIA Committee
Elizabeth Bezark
GYA Board of Directors,
Consultant & Assistant on Special Projects
Elizabeth Bezark is a global educator who strongly believes in the power of intercultural engagement to craft deeper levels of understanding and shared humanity in our world. She uses her passions for and expertise in increasing ethics and equitability across global partnerships to significantly advance GYA's adaption to the Fair Trade Learning standards. She co-manages the Fair Trade Learning subcommittee as a member of the Standards & Accreditation Committee.
Additionally, Elizabeth supports the Gap Year Association by assisting with accreditation reviews, developing goal-setting systems for GYA’s current and proposed Committees, and writing GYA’s newsletters. She’s working on improving DEIA practices across gap year education alongside GYA’s DEIA Committee.
Elizabeth has joined GYA’s Board of Directors as a Gap Year Alum Representative. She has lived in France and Perú, and she’s traveled to Thailand, Laos, and Costa Rica in personal and professional pursuit of meaningful travel, intercultural engagement, language learning, and experiential education.
She holds a BS in International Studies from the University of Oregon, a Certificate of Critically Informed International Development through the Omprakash Education Through Global Engagement (EdGE) program, and a Wilderness First Responder Certificate from the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).
Drew Beasley
GYA Intern, Special Projects
and Research Assistant
Drew Beasley,
GYA Intern, Special Projects and Research Assistant
Drew Beasley is more than a gap year alum, he is a passionate and outspoken advocate for the benefits of experiential education. After his first semester of college as a music studies major, Drew took a gap period to South Asia where he practiced intercultural communication, explored his strengths, and refocused his college trajectory. He is a dean's list student at DePaul University.
Drew has remained an active and involved member of the gap year community by sharing his story through speeches, writings, panels, and podcasts. He's enjoyed working alongside prospective gappers to ensure they find an option that fits their needs. Outside of the Gap Year Association, Drew works at the Chicago-based Coleman Entrepreneurship Center helping students bring their business ideas to life. Drew will begin leading service-learning trips this summer and he will graduate in 2022 with a dual degree in Media and Peace Studies.
Hannah Miller
Social Media & Web Development,
Gap Year Alumna
Hannah Miller
Gap Year Alumna, Web & Social Media Consulting
Hannah is a gap year alumna and geography graduate who is passionate about building community around alternative education and international experience. From the age of 16, Hannah has been building an online career in design. She manages GYA’s social media part time, along with providing web design assistance. When she’s not nesting down and making art at her home in Ontario, she travels solo at a full time capacity. Her mission is to create beautiful things, empower others, and pursue lifelong learning.