As college application season begins, many high school students are either applying to college, or attending multiple college fairs in hopes of finding their dream school. I am also starting to fill out applications, but not for college. Unlike many students my age, I am applying to gap year programs in Israel. Supported by my parents, I will be doing a “Shnat Sherut”- a year of service in my home country of Israel. I chose to do this for a few reasons. First, I wanted an opportunity to be closer to my family. Most of them live in Israel, which means that I only see them once a year. Living in Israel for a year will give me the chance to really get to know them better, and to spend time with them before I go to college.

In Israel, my home country, every student has to enlist in the Israeli Defense Forces, the army, for at least two years once they graduate high school. Growing up, I saw multiple family members join the army and have an experience that shaped the rest of their lives. I feel like it is my responsibility, as a natural-born Israeli, to give back some service to my country. Even though I am not required to join the army, I feel an obligation to give some service back to Israel for a year, whether it will be enlisting in the army or volunteering at a different organization. Part of the time I spent in Israel this summer was used to learn about different programs that I could join during my upcoming gap year. Once of these is the Overseas Volunteer Program of Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national emergency ambulance service. This year-long program entails becoming an emergency paramedic volunteers, and joining seasoned paramedics around Israel to save people. This is a program I would be interested in because it gives me a chance to help people while still learning.

I know that a gap year isn’t the traditional American route for high school graduates. Gap years are associated with the negative stigma of a lazy high school student who wants a break from learning. I see a gap year as something more. I see it as an opportunity to grow independent, to learn how to live by myself and to gain some real-life experience before going on to college. I know that this gap year will give me the skills to thrive in college and to give me job and life experience for and after college. Taking a gap year doesn’t mean skipping college- it just gives me time to grow as a person before I take the next step in my educational journey.