Senior Julia Mitchell’s plans for next year are anything but conventional.

While it’s not unusual for seniors to go different directions after graduation, she is embarking on a journey unlike anything she has ever experienced. As her fellow graduates prepare for colleges and careers, she will be packing her bags for Thailand. 

The concept of a gap year lingered in the back of Mitchell’s mind long before senior year. Because of her parents, who are both long term gap year advocates, she had always played around with the thought of taking a year off between high school and college. And yet, she remained skeptical.

“At first I didn’t like it,” she recalled. “I wanted to go to college, join a sorority, and make friends.”

After watching her older brother take a gap year, though, she began to consider one of her own. By the time senior year rolled around, discussions about the future led her to realize that she didn’t know what she wanted to study post high school.

“I liked the idea of having a year to figure stuff out,” she said. “As I learned more about it, I knew I needed to do it.”

For Mitchell, one of the biggest benefits of taking a gap year is being able to shake up her daily routine. After years of living on a rigid school schedule, she is looking forward to designing her own days. 

“It’s nice to just have a break and not do the same thing as everyone,” she emphasized. “It’ll just give me the chance to find myself.”

To do this she will travel to Thailand, the farthest she has been from home. Despite this, she claims that excitement outweighs any nerves about living by herself in an unfamiliar place.

“I just want to get out and see everything,” she gushed. “We’re in such a bubble, and where I’m going is so dissimilar to here.”

Upon her arrival in Thailand, Mitchell will be picked up by members of GVI, an organization that sponsors international conservation programs for students.

Each experience concentrates on a different form of wildlife, giving teens a unique opportunity to coexist with plants and animals around the globe. Mitchell’s trip in particular focuses on elephants, meaning that students will learn how to live, work and play alongside the massive mammals.

“My dad really didn’t want me to go to Thailand,” she said, explaining that he thought it was too far from home. However, as she discovered more about the program and the elephants, she decided her “heart was set.”

When she is not spending time with the elephants, Mitchell will be getting to know her roommates, which hail from all around the world. Together, they will learn how to adapt to their new environment, part of which involves growing accustomed to a world with limited Internet connection. To access the web, Mitchell would need to drive for multiple hours to an internet cafe in the city.

“I don’t really think about that sort of thing,” she laughed. “It’s going to be the best experience ever.”

Mitchell will spend a total of two months in Thailand before returning back to the States. After a brief time at home, she will embark on yet another adventure. This time, though, she will trade the tropical jungle of Thailand for the winter wonderland of Colorado. 

Out west, she plans to work at one of the ski mountains around Aspen Snowmass, an area she first visited on a trip with her family. In doing so, she will follow in the footsteps of her brother, who also spent part of his gap year working on a mountain.

“I love it [there],” she said. “I think I’m going to fit in well.”

When she starts her job, Mitchell will be put up in apartments alongside roommates who also work on the mountain. She will commute to work via bus, utilizing Colorado’s developed and reliable public transit system. 

Though Mitchell is unsure of the exact duration of her Colorado stint, she hopes to stay through the end of ski season in April. Her mission is to save the money she earns so she can rely on it in the future.

“It’ll be great to save up,” she remarked. “I’m excited to grow up and do it by myself… it’s small, but it’s important.”

Overall, Mitchell believes that the key to a successful gap year is planning. She recommends that gap year students set a definite start and end date for their travels, especially if they plan on going to college someday. In her opinion, gap years are a good fit for “any students with doubts about college.”

Mitchell’s ultimate goal for her gap year is to develop an idea of what she wants to study. She hopes that traveling will teach her more about herself, helping push her in the direction of a career path. Whether this happens or not, she is planning to apply to colleges in the fall and start as a freshman the following academic year. 

“Even when I’m in college, I still want to study abroad,” she said. “I want to get out and see everything- it’s there for a reason.”