It's Just a Year?! by Gavin

It's Just a Year?! by Gavin - August 2019 Scholarship Essay

I often wonder if I should take a gap year. I mean, It's Just a Year!? The past 18 years have flown by, the last year especially. The things that I would do, work more at Hy Vee to save money for next year, perhaps do more volunteering within my community, do some job shadowing within professions that I think might interest me, this might help provide me some insight for my future. I am still not certain what my "adult" job will look like? My path is foggy at best, I know there are many paths that I can choose, but which one is right for me? Will a gap year help or hinder? That is the million dollar question.

Everyone keeps saying, make sure you do something you love, so that your career will not feel like a job. How many 50 year old working individuals would says they LOVE their career still? Well, I love rugby...will that afford me a successful career down the road? I like the idea of teaching...how do I know if I will LOVE teaching? I like writing, should I take classes toward creative writing experiences? How can I know what I will LOVE in another 10 years? I barely know myself after 18 years of being me, and now I must decide the path for the rest of my life? So again, It's Just a Year?!

In the end, at the urging of my mother I enroll for classes at a community college. She really is fearful that if I take a gap year, I won't return to college, that was her path. She tells me "I don't want you making the same mistake I did". Partially to please her, I decide to start my college education with the basic courses college offers me. I hope my path will become lit with clarity in this one year. My mom tells me this normal, many don't know their path yet, and that is okay. I hope that in place of a gap year, my LOVE of something becomes an epiphany, that I develop a passion for something that will stay with me for a lifetime.

Maybe a I take my gap year, next year...I mean, It's Just a Year!