Alec Hopping on Taking a Gap Year

Alec Hopping, CA 2015 (Comments from his Parents)
 
Describe your gap year experience. He was hired as a resident Visiting Environmentalist at Little St. Simons Island, Georgia, a four-star eco-resort on the Georgia coast. He led birding tours during fall migration, did scientific survey work and helped in multiple areas on an as-needed basis. The island is owned by former Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson and his wife, and Alec got to hang out and bird with them as well as assist with a group from Cornell's Lab of Ornithology. Alec then returned home for about two weeks to re-center and reload. See his work by clicking here.
 
From early November through mid-December he lived with a friend and his family in Guatemala. Alec had met the young man at Cornell's Young Birders event during the summer prior to senior year at CA. Alec had a wide variety of incredible and challenging experiences in Guatemala, birded much of the country and learned its culture. He returned home in mid-December. He then attended a NOLS course in Patagonia; the Patagonian Cultural Expedition, a 30-day experience. He rocked it and was chosen by the 13-member group and the instructors independently to lead the course's last week. From late February through early March, he traveled to Tierra del Fuego with a friend from NOLS. From mid-March to present, he went to Colombia to spend time with another NOLS friend and live with the Colombian family. This included playing street soccer and hanging with Colombians! After about two weeks he met the #1 birder in Colombia above. He plans to work in the Denver area this summer then start Cornell in August.
 
 
What would you keep the same? What would you do differently? The year has been structured so that he's had increasing independence as the year progresses. He's earned it and the three of us are pleased with the totality of how the year has gone. It may be that for some students a more structured year would be more comfortable, but Alec's "short notice" approach has yielded some unbelievable opportunities and experiences. He's also become very good at trip planning and logistics. The "short notice" approach has been stressful for Cathy and me because there have been many times we don't know what's next. Some of the other downsides include being robbed in Chile (he wasn't hurt but we had to deal with insurance, pain and suffering, replacement of stolen goods (a story in itself) and insurance issues), dealing with an unhealthy family in Guatemala and short response times for us. We have renamed ourselves "Alec's staff",  but we do feel it has provided him a needed and valuable transition from the insular life at CA to the real world's broad expanses. We all know he will be so much better prepared for college after this, and will have accumulated lifetime experiences that will be foundations for the perspective he will bring to Cornell.
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