The Gap Year Podcast

How Students Can Lead A Budget-Friendly Gap Year

If you've got money on the brain, or if you're worried that your gap year may be “expensive” and you won’t be able to afford it, we’ve got you covered. 

In this episode, we bust the most common myths around money during your gap year and offer up helpful tips that make this process easier and more comfortable. 

Come learn the importance of establishing a budget, goal-setting and the exact processes you need to go through to manage your income and expenses. You’ll also walk away with a solid understanding of how to handle larger sums of money to invest in yourself or your personal development. 

Stick around closer to the end when Michelle dives into valuable insight on how to creatively earn more money and travel smarter to help close income gaps. Discover private and government-funded youth scholarships and organizations that provide financial aid options and how to leverage your own skills to work with them in exchange for discounted scholarship programs. 

Topics Discussed

• Learn how to become familiar with handling larger sums of money so that you are comfortable making investment decisions for yourself. 
• A full overview of the steps needed to create a budget and how to keep track of your income and expenses.
• Traditional and alternative ways to help you create more income and achieve financial stability.
• Three examples of well-known scholarship opportunities.
• Practical examples that will help students reduce their costs during their gap year.
• Ways to work with gap year programs that have financial aid scholarships or bursaries built into their funding structure.
• Three affordable government-funded youth programs.
• The importance of setting goals before establishing a budget.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• RBC Future Launch Scholarship - https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/futurelaunch/index.html
• The Youth Travel Foundation - https://ftj-ytf.org/youthtravelfoundation
• The Travel Access Project - https://www.travelaccessproject.org/canada
• Workaway.info - https://www.workaway.info/en/destination/northamerica/ca
• Airbnb - https://www.airbnb.ca/
• Katimavik - https://katimavik.org/en/we-offer/futureperfect/
• The Explorer Program - https://theadventureclassroom.com/the-explore-program-best-study-abroad-experience/
• Canadian Conservation Corps - https://cwf-fcf.org/en/explore/conservation-corps/ 
• The 4-Step Gap Year Planner - https://www.cangap.ca/planner

Connect With The Canadian Gap Association

• Join Gapper Connect on Discord to connect with students thinking about a gap year, current Gappers, and alum all in one place! https://www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect
• Visit the CanGap website https://www.cangap.ca/
• Follow on Instagram http://www.instagram.com/cangapassociation/
• Follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ucangap
• Follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/ucangap/status/276178230694772736
• Follow on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuBit8gLXEOxaBggoGmykjQ

Resources To Help Students Build A Strong Foundation During Their Gap Year with Michael Shouldice

We all have regrets, however, if we plan our gap year mindfully, we can lay the foundation for a very bright future. Today's guest Michael Shouldice from Athabasca University talks about his three gap years and some of the things that he would have done differently if he were to do it all over again. A lot of that comes down to accessing the right resources that can help you build a successful foundation during your gap year.  

Michelle and Michael dive deeper into his gap year experiences where he talks about his time spent abroad working in Australia. He drops some golden-nugget resources for students who are taking a gap year and transitioning on to university, employment or both. Stick around to the very end of the episode where Michael shares a little bit more about how Athabasca University can fit into your gap year and allow you to earn university credits, while still having the freedom that a gap year provides. 

Topics Discussed

• Michael describes his first gap year between high school and university and his regret for not having access to the gap year resources at the time. 
• Michael discusses the second gap year and moving to Australia through one of the Government of Canada’s visa opportunities (like International Experience Canada!).
• Michael re-visits his third gap year in his mid-thirties after he transitioned from the Software industry and his regrets for not taking advantage of some of the gap year resources that were available at the time.  
• Three resources to mindfully plan your gap year activities so that it coincides with your goal. 
• The importance of knowing what opportunities are available to students during their gap year. 
• How Athabasca’s distance university can easily tie into a student’s gap year with their flexible intake and their diverse asynchronous classes.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• Discover Year https://www.discoveryear.ca/
• Working Abroad with International Experience Canada https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadians/international-experience-canada.html
• Athabasca University https://www.athabascau.ca/
• Centennial College https://www.centennialcollege.ca/
• Connect with Michael Shouldice on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelshouldice/

Connect With The Canadian Gap Association

• Join Gapper Connect on Discord to connect with students thinking about a gap year, current Gappers, and alum all in one place! https://www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect
• Visit our website https://www.cangap.ca/
• Follow on Instagram http://www.instagram.com/cangapassociation/
• Follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ucangap
• Follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/ucangap/status/276178230694772736
• Follow on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuBit8gLXEOxaBggoGmykjQ

 

Why you should take a gap year in 2022

A 2022/2023 gap year is all about reclaiming your life. It's about finding a sense of control, feeling you are moving yourself forward towards your goals, having fun, being adventurous and developing real world skills to help you become an adult.

 

In this episode, Michelle talks about some of the concrete reasons why a 2022/2023 gap year makes sense, as well as addressing common concerns.  

 

2022-2023 can be YOUR year. You can lean into it, make it your own, take control of your life and launch yourself into an amazing year.  

 

While this can seem scary, CanGap is here to help.  We have an amazing community online of current gappers, gap year alum and folks deciding if a gap year is the right fit for them.  Come ask your questions and learn what others are up to in our Gapper Connect discord server.  www.cangap.ca/gapperconnect.

 

If you want some one-on-one support, you can always book a free 30 minute call with our team and we can help you to start to imagine how your purposeful gap year will shape out.  

 

It’s time to build a year ahead that excites you, that makes you smile, that makes your friends jealous, and a year that will help you define the rest of your life. 

 

And we can’t wait to help you get started!

Leading a Bilingual Gap Year with Barbara

We often feel compelled to keep going, to finish that degree or to pursue more years of higher education, even when a voice in our head tells us to take a break or to change paths.

Now, changing your plans is not easy to do, in fact, it takes a great amount of self-awareness and courage to pursue an idea or an opportunity outside of your comfort zone. However, these changes in life often lead to the most incredible discoveries. 

In this episode of the podcast, Barbara shares her experience participating in the Explore Program and Odyssey Program, offered by the Official Languages Program.

The Odyssey program is a bilingual, paid work experience that provides opportunities for post-secondary students to travel to another province to teach English to students while being immersed with the Quebecois culture.

The Explore program is a 3-5 week french immersion program with structured classes and workshops that is offered in the Spring and Summer. 

Applications to both the Odyssey and Explore Program are live! Apply through the Official Languages Program Website.

How to be an Ethical Volunteer on your Gap Year with Tyler

Have you heard the phrase “For Lifer’s” before? This is when someone finds perfect alignment in something and it sticks around for a very long time.

For Tyler, this was finding and working with the incredible Canadian Non-Profit Organization, LiveDifferent.

LiveDifferent provides volunteers the opportunity to make a difference in the developing world by working alongside community members to take action and fight prevalent social justice issues.

In this episode, Tyler shares his Gap Year experience with the LiveDifferent Academy program, and how this changed the trajectory of his life. He speaks to the skills he gained and how he became a transformational leader of his community. 

If you are taking a Gap Year, and want to make a difference, don’t miss out on this episode and check out LiveDifferent! 

How to Plan Your Pandemic Gap Year in 4 Steps

Many people are intimidated by the daunting task of planning an entire gap year. Asking, “What should I plan?” “How should I plan?”. Even raising the question, “Is there a point in planning?!”

 

With COVID still hanging around, Michelle shares her top tips on how to navigate the virtual world, set smart goals and curate a functional plan that prioritizes your goals and aspirations. 

 

And, we’ve taken all Michelle’s expertise and packaged it up in a Step-by-Step Guide to Planning your Gap Year. 

 

This guide ensures that you don’t miss anything, keeps the overwhelming feelings at bay and ensures that your time is well spent, no matter what your goals are, your budget is, and what you want to do in your year. 

 

You will also receive a one-on-one feedback session with our team so that you can feel confident that your plan is going to serve you well and that you haven't overlooked anything.

The Lost Girls Guide To Finding The World with Ashlyn George

What is your top bucket list goal? Is it to go skydiving, swim with sharks, or run a marathon? Well, for Ashlyn George, her goal was to chase the sun for an entire year! 

 

After graduating from university, she curated a 6-month plan to travel through Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, exploring new cities, eating delicious cuisines and experiencing things that she never imagined. Ashlyn thought, “if I can spend 5 years getting an education, why can’t I spend 5 years of my life seeing the world?”

 

What started out as a journey to accomplish her travel goals soon became her full time job. Now, Ashlyn is an award winning travel writer, photographer, content creator and speaker! 

 

In this episode, catch all of Ashlyn’s travel advice for pursuing your passions with intent and purpose, travel tips, and top experiences!

Psst! If you want to bring your parents on board for your gap year so that you can travel, check out our 4-Step Gap Year Planner which covers how to talk to your parents about your gap year and includes steps to start planning and research your gap year!

Overcoming Gap Year Guilt

New years always bring up conversations about resolutions, goal setting and milestones that you will accomplish in the year, like beginning your post-secondary journey. 

However, those wanting to start a gap year this year, may experience the complex emotions of guilt and shame, which is brought about by family culture, peer pressure, societal norms and your very own inner critic for not pursuing post-secondary right after high school. 

Often, family may think that there is a highway to success and because you are considering a gap year, it’s a detour. 

Guilt, shame and self-doubt are very powerful emotions and we need to acknowledge when they surface for us. 

In this episode, Michelle shares her tips on how to navigate these feelings and ultimately learn to let them pass through you and to live in a space of joy.

How to plan a pandemic gap year with AJ

AJ had no intention to pursue a gap year. But missing the IRL university experience due to a pandemic didn’t seem ideal either.

 

With just two days to go before he was to begin his first semester at University of Toronto’s Rotman Commerce, AJ deferred his acceptance and jumped (literally!) into the start of his gap year.

 

In this episode, AJ reflects on his gap year experience during the 2020/2021 school year, how he approached planning and goal setting, and offers up some gap year gold for students currently considering a gap year.

 

Want more from AJ? Dive deeper into AJ’s gap year adventures in our CanGap Ambassador series on YouTube. Click here!

And where did Michelle find AJ? See the original article here!

How to tackle post-secondary conversations over the holidays

Feeling a little anxious about all those post-secondary questions your uncle, grandma and neighbour will be asking you over the holiday break?

 

Whether you’re considering a gap year, clear on your post-secondary path, or totally unsure about your next step, we got you covered with this short and value-packed episode.

 

In this holiday special, Michelle covers how to tackle conversations about post-secondary (especially when you have yet to make a decision!), questions to think about as you head into the holidays, and how to prepare yourself so you feel comfortable and confident in leading the conversation with family and friends.

 

Need a handy resource to help you handle the gap year conversation with your parents? Grab our cheat sheet by clicking here.

 

We also have another helpful episode you may want to dive into that is ALL about talking to your parents about taking a gap year. Check it out!