News & Press Archive | Page 12 of 19

Malia’s decision to take a gap year isn’t just good for her — it’s good for the country, entrepreneur says

2016-05-03

By Abigail Falik When the White House announced Sunday that Malia Obama would attend Harvard University but take a year off first, it sparked a lot of conversation about “gap years.” Abigail Falik, founder and chief executive officer of Global Citizen Year and an award-winning entrepreneur, writes her views on the benefits of taking an exploratory...

Malia Obama’s ‘Gap Year’ Is Part of a Growing (and Expensive) Trend

2016-05-03

By Mike McPhate It sounds awfully nice: A yearlong postponement of schoolwork. The White House announced on Sunday that Malia Obama, the president’s older daughter, would be among the thousands of students to take a so-called gap year between high school and college. The hiatus from classrooms, textbooks and tests has become an increasingly popular...

Why more high-school seniors need to be like Malia Obama and take a gap year

2016-05-03

By Jeffrey J. Selingo Sunday’s announcement from the White House that Malia Obama would take a gap year before starting at Harvard University in the fall of 2017 drew swift reactions on social media—a mix of support, ridicule for delaying adulthood, and some envy that the idea of taking a break before college is...

Why a gap year is increasingly popular for many would-be freshmen and their parents

2016-04-28

The deadline is looming this week for local high school students to decide where to go to college. But more and more kids are deciding to take the year off instead. And for many, that’s increasingly proving to be an enticing alternative. KIRO Radio’s Josh Kerns introduces us to one such student who found a...

Don’t Send Your Kids to College. At Least Not Yet.

2016-04-08

This op-ed was originally published in The New York Times with Nicholas Kristof on April 5th, 2016. View the original publication of the article at this link. In the past few weeks, anxious high school seniors across the country have received admissions decisions from colleges. Some might feel like they’ve won the lottery; others have dashed hopes...

‘Gap years’ offer teens service, travel — and transformation

2015-12-27

By Sharon Noguchi For 13 years, Isabel Garcia, of Redwood City, hit the books and was poised to become the first in her immigrant family to go to college. Then instead she decided to spend a year in Brazil as an unpaid apprentice and was met with bewilderment. “You’re in America, it’s perfect here, why...

Vision + Strategy

2015-12-01

Entrepreneur and educator Abby Falik is on a crusade to make a global bridge year post-high school the norm. Story by Amalia McGibbon // Portraits by Jack Hutcheson What is the point of college? It’s a genuine question. With a third of American freshman dropping out before their second year, student debt on the rise,...

Abby Falik Interviewed on NPR’s Inflection Point

2015-11-25

Inflection Point is a public radio show dedicated to telling the stories of women changing the status quo. We’re thrilled to share this week’s podcast featuring Abby Falik, Global Citizen Year’s Founder/CEO. Abby talks with host Lauren Schiller about the crisis facing our outdated education system, and shines a light on a promising solution: a new pathway...

You Should Know: Abby Falik

2015-10-21

A well-known educator and activist, Abby Falik is the founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year, which works to take the concept of a global bridge year after high school and turn it into a more commonly experienced expectation and opportunity. Occupation: Social Entrepreneur Place of birth: Berkeley, CA Instagram/Twitter: @abbyfalik What do you actually...