To take a gap (year) or not to...

Mission Media ExperienceMost people take a year off after they graduate, but 18 year-old Tanvi Kanchan, decided to take a break to experience the practical side of the media industry after completing her 12th grade through the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) at Jamnabai Narsee School, Juhu, in May last year. Some may think that's a little too young for someone to take a break, but the straight-A student who's always had an independent streak knew what she wanted. "I was lucky to have parents who trusted and supported me", she tells us. Nonetheless, "To everyone except my friends, it was a shock, because I don't think we have that culture so much in India".At first Tanvi was a bit apprehensive because, "I didn't want it to be a wasteful decision. I wanted to do something with my life rather than vegetating at home". A theatre-actress aunt of hers connected her with the organisers of Literature Live. Developing brochures for the live event, coordinating... Once she got into the swing of things, there were no second thoughts. She worked with Literature Live all the way to November and subsequently worked on the digital magazine Megapolis India with Carlin Carr, another volunteer at Literature Live.This was followed by an internship at Rolling Stone, an amazing opportunity for the young girl who is passionate about the Indi music scene and has been following it for a few years. "These two-three months at Rolling Stone have taught me more than I could learn in a school," she tells us. "To have worked at Rolling Stone at this age is a great experience. I've amassed a tremendous amount of contacts in this one year. There are a lot of people who know me by name, by face and even by my work."Her break has enabled her to take 'a more informed decision' about her career path. She deferred her admission to the University of Exeter, UK from 2014 to 2015 and her gap year experience has convinced her to do her Mass Media in India, and pursue a Masters degree abroad later. She's eager to get back to the books and isn't hesitant about being in the same class with students younger than her. "I don't think one or two years makes a difference. Even in school there were people younger than me," she points out.Rigor of getting up and taking the local train to get to your workplace everyday, work 8 hours and then travel back home again is something you don't get to experience in school. It gives you a sense of respect about what you're going to be doing. It has helped her develop her personality as well. "there's a lot of having to call people up, or interview them, you learn to break out of your shell. I'm now more confident in the way I approach people".Are there any downsides to taking a gap year? Tanvi doesn't see any, "It builds you as a person and teaches you to think independently as long as you make good use of it and expose yourself to a lot of different things. As much as this year has been the validation I need that I want to join media, or a writing/content creation based career, it's also been an exposure to the existence of avenues such as advertising and arts event management that I could also explore. This is something I wouldn't have bothered to look into or even considered had I not taken this gap year and exposed myself to the different arenas of media and content creation. Making a decision to do a course such as a BMM now is also born of the fact that I may, in a couple of years, decide to pursue a career in advertising or something of its ilk".Her ultimate goal, whether in five or ten years from now is, "to be doing something that I love and something that is true to my passion, and support myself through that. Whether it's media, journalism, advertising, or even writing for theatre or film, I simply want to be doing something that I know is true to my passion".Musically InclinedBonita Deniz, 20, decided to take a break after graduating with a degree in History from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai in 2014. At some level her decision was triggered by her desire to spend some time with her grandmother after her aunt passed away, but she was also a little confused about the career path that lay ahed of her. "I didn't seem to have it all planned and I was willing to experiment to figure my true calling rather than doing something that I didn't enjoy," she explains.After being extremely active in college—be it academics, extra-curricular or social work—Bonita's hectic schedule had stressed her out quite a bit and had taken a toll on her health. She knew what she wanted—a holiday and some time to narrow down her options. "My mum being my strongest support system never discouraged me or pressurised me when I shared the idea. I guess it becomes very easy to take that call when you have full assurance and backing from your loved ones".This June, it will be almost a year since she set of on her 'me-time' journey. "With my assignments, college fests and other college activities I never really got the chance to indulge in a lot of my interests. I always wanted to go catch a play or sit through a concert at NCPA and observe artists and all the people involved in a production at work. I also wanted to study photography in some depth. I finally did it!"But those are not the only things she did on what she calls her "musical break". She also joined the Mumbai-based Newman Choir, toured Goa and Pune, was invited to be the vocal coach for a college in the suburbs and train them for Mumbai University's Annual Western Music Competition, conducted summer music workshops in schools, continued giving music lessons in voice and keyboard and prepared students for exams at international boards, learnt dance styles such as ballroom and contemporary, learned photography and experimented at local events and weddings, went on occasional trips with different sets of friends, and failed a series of corporate internship experiments–"Not my thing!," she tells us.Her gap year experience has been "fantastic". "I'm so glad I took the decision. All throughout, when I assumed I had things planned out, I wanted to pursue a career in the Media like say be a director or a cinematographer or work at an ad agency and pursue my love for music and teaching the art as a parallel stream. If not for the break I would have been in ad school or a film-making school. But no matter what different things I tried doing in this year, music kept drawing me back—either teaching, composing or song-writing/performing. I got more time to practise the keyboard and singing, which requires discipline and commitment".As her gap year draws to a close, Bonita has decided "to be a ''Musicpreneur'' and join music school this year to study Music Production. It is a big risk but this year has encouraged me to believe in myself more and chase my dreams. I have gotten to know myself better and grown more confident with every bit of creative criticism and appreciation from my friends and family. It inspires me to work hard and I hope to produce some successful jingles and score Grammy-winning background music for films in the years to come".She does admit that getting back to academics may be bit tough. Besides music school, she is also looking forward to completing her Masters in History via a correspondence course.Switching StreamsAfter being a Science student in school, it was but natural for Avni Singh to choose the same subject for graduation. But while pursuing BSc in Zoology, she realised that the course wasn't as per her expectations; there was a lot of pressure to cram up books on lengthy subjects and the practical knowledge imparted was seemingly obsolete. "While some friends studying abroad did exciting field projects and interacted with amazing wildlife, we observed preserved specimens in classrooms," she shares. As she reached the end of the course, she decided she couldn't pursue it further and started her search for more interesting courses that she could excel at and enjoy. She was still confused and took a break after graduating in 2008.She spent the next one year looking for courses in India and Europe and learnt Italian at the Embassy. "The classes were scheduled daily for most of the year, so it kept me engaged. I also got a chance to learn about the Italian language, culture, food as well as interact with new people and make some lovely friends." She travelled a bit as well; her most memorable trip being the one to Uttarakhand.The break opened up my mind in so many ways, "It helped me evolve, think beyond the conventional and not to be afraid to make decisions that I feel are right for me without judging myself constantly. The experience of being in a relaxed environment gave me a chance to broaden my horizon and thinking, which otherwise I could not have. I also realised I love being around people. It gave me some time off to realise that I could perhaps choose Communications as a great field to build a career in, and I started looking up courses," she shares.Although initially my parents were quite surprised as I had always been focused on academics since school, they have always been supportive of my decisions and understood that I needed to find a new direction in life. She finally enroled herself for a course in PR and Advertising at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in Delhi. After a 1-year intensive course, I joined a PR firm in Delhi and have steadily made progress, thoroughly enjoying my professional journey."Special CallingLife has a way of taking over your time and before you know it five years have passed and you haven't done any of the things that you wanted to do. "I wanted some time off to gain experiences, grow into myself and figure out if what I wanted to do was right for me. I knew that it would be the only time because after my Masters, I would probably start working and then I wouldn't have time. It wasn't easy because it meant putting my academic and career life on hold, but I knew that it was the best thing for me to do at the time," says Laurette Reynolds, who took a break between 2011 and 2013, after she finished her Bachelors in Psychology and Sociology from St. Xavier's College. After a two-year break, she is now in the final year of my MA in Special Educational Needs at the University of South Wales in the UK."The break was originally supposed to be for a year, but I ended up taking two years off instead. The second year was not part of the plan, but happened due to circumstances I had no control over." In the first year, Laurette got her Private Pilot's License for single-engine airplanes in Canada. She then came back to Bombay and started working at an event management company to keep herself busy. "I realised that I would never be able to do a regular 9 to 5 desk job. The thought of doing that for the rest of my life made me want to jump off a cliff. It pushed me to start doing voluntary work at SPJ Sadhana, a school for children with special needs. I originally thought that I would just do it for a few months and then go on to do my MA in Special Education Needs, but I ended up volunteering there, everyday for about 9 months. It changed my life in so many ways; not only did it cement what I wanted to do, but also that I could make a difference."The second year was a lot harder as it was not part of the plan.When her UK visa application was rejected, she took it as a sign that maybe she was not meant to do what she wanted. "I had no idea what my next step was and even thought that I should just go back to my job in event management and move up the ladder there". A few months after the visa application got rejected, the school offered her a job as an Assistant Teacher. "I could not refuse their offer, I missed the children and felt this indescribable void in my life. I also did a part time course on Learning Disabilities during that time", she tells us."Those years taught me more than 15 years of schooling did. I learnt that life has a weird way of helping you find your way and that failure really is the stepping stone to success. As long as you don't let it knock you out completely! At the beginning of the second year, everyone kept telling me that things happened for a reason, but at the time it only annoyed me. However, I am now a firm believer in the saying 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger'. It made me more determined to go after what I wanted. Not only am I now in the UK pursuing my MA, but I also received a scholarship from the British Council itself; there was no way they could reject my visa the second time around. The rejection only made me stronger and more independent, after I got over it and realised that I should not take it personally. Those two years helped me grow as an individual and taught me that one person can really make a difference in the world."The hardest part about doing her MA in Special Educational Needs was being a student after being a teacher. Not only did she have to get back to studying after two years, but she also had to deal with a completely new way of doing so.Laurette considers herself lucky because she lived with her parents during the entire two years, but it was hard to be a 22 year old to be taking money from her parents to go out. That was one of the reasons she stuck with the part time event management job while she continued doing voluntary work at SPJ Sadhana for the first nine months.The AlternativeCurrently on a nine-month “break”, between 12th grade and university, US-based Chase Hommeyer considers this a year of alternative education. “I decided to take a gap year in the beginning of senior year, not because I felt burned out, but because I was plagued with questions like ‘Where am I blindly rushing? What do I actually care about and what is pure ambition?’ This year is about widening perspective and becoming a global citizen. I wanted to be challenged as a person instead of a student and Varanasi has done that. The time off brought Chase all the way from the US to India, "not for any specific reason, but because my heart was pulling me to come! I'd never been to India and knew that Varanasi was so different from the US.

Chase has spent seven months here learning Hindi and volunteering full-time with Guria, an NGO that fights human traffi cking and commercial sexual exploitation. Her mornings are spent at the office—helping with grant writing, volunteer co-ordination and social media outreach. In the afternoon, you’ll find her at one of Guria’s education centres for the children of sex workers, helping run art therapy, whilst playing and having fun! “The biggest project I ran at Guria was the FREEDOM NOW Global Art Exchange and Exhibit. This involved coordinating the participation of 43 schools from around the world in learning about human trafficking, creating, exchanhinging and exhibiting art about human trafficking," she says.

It was Chase's mentor and her friend Nancy who suggested she take a gap year. "I knew a few people who had taken gap years, but I had never truly considered the idea for myself until she suggested it. She said she has never known anyone who has regretted taking a gap year, only people who have regretted NOT taking one!"Chase believes that her gap year has made a positive difference in her life. "I have learned things about myself and the world that I could have NEVER learned in the classroom. In high school, I was too busy with classes and activities that I never had enough time to think about important things, like: What does it mean to be human? Who am I? What do I believe about life. Being in India for this long has made me really question the way people and religions and institutions try to label the human experience. Being in India has made me less judgemental of all types of life, because how can you judge something that you barely understand? I will enter my first year of university feeling more confident in myself and with a better understanding of the world. I also have a renewed drive to use my education to help others!" says Chase who will probably study either humanities or public policy at Princeton University. I’m lucky, I only had to pay for my plane tickets!,” notes Chase, whose gap year is being funded by the Princeton University Bridge Year Program.