The Value of a Gap Year by Isaiah

The Value of a Gap Year by Isaiah - August 2019 Scholarship Essay

For this prompt, I'm reminded of the dictum from Bill Gates, "Most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in ten years." Of course, none of this is to downplay the power of human creativity, for it is the most powerful force in the universe, but rather, to suggest that people are somewhat unreasonable - myself included - in their perspective on time and human action. Given this, my gap year would help to cultivate my sense of my mission, my purpose, and my vision. To elaborate on this, let me explain what I've done this summer: to the average person, it would probably seem uneventful. I haven't traveled much physically, but through books, I've been able to expose my mind to a great deal of new terrain, particularly investing and financial literacy. Just in the last month, I've pulled out 14 books on green energy, sound investing, conscious capitalism and financial literacy from authors such as Ray Dalio, Warren Buffet, R. Hunter Lovins, John Mackey, and many more. From here, such readings have driven me to have a respect for entrepreneurship and the role of business in alleviating social problems and creating value for all stakeholders, rather than simply shareholders. And for the time when I don't have my face buried in books or daily business subscriptions of MorningBrew and Axios Markets, I work at a retirement home as a wait staff server. Having been there for roughly 2 years, I can truly say that is altered and matured my position on many things, while also helping me to experience the second most important day of my life: the first day being the day I was born, and the second being my first shift, for it helped me to understand just why I was born. I firmly believe - and live out this belief - that my purpose in life is to help combat the social problems of my time, from income inequality to climate change. I'm sure many millennials have these ambitions just the same, but don't pursue them in such a realistic manner; and I don't say that with a tone of arrogance, but rather, a tone of pride, for I was heavily unrealistic about my approach to such a purpose up until around this summer.

Since my sophomore year of high school, I've had the desire to be a lawyer, and while a noble career, it was this summer that I realized I can do more with my life than churn out 70-hour work weeks. Indeed, by taking some of the income I earn from that profession and spending it elsewhere, whether it be investing in green energy companies, organic food vendors, or even investing in my own green start-up business that makes an organic diet accessible to people in urban communities, can further amplify the benefits that I offer to people in poverty, and even those that aren't. After all, we're all inhabitants of the Earth, and one's concern for a social problem should not be determined by their relationship to it, that is, if they've experienced such an issue or not.

So, to put simply, my Gap year would be immensely valuable to me because it would be an extension of my summer: I'd read more, find new ways to make my money work for me, and meditate and immerse myself in natures on days of relaxation. It's realistic, it's sound, and it recognizes that one year is not going to make me by any means, but rather, serve as a time period where I can further cultivate good habits in the hopes that I, one day, use my platform to improve the social, economic, and environmental conditions of people all across the country and even across the globe.