Before coming to UNC, sophomore Cecilia Polanco, a global studies major, was often asked the question, “If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?”
Polanco never took this question seriously until she was offered a grant from UNC’s Global Gap Year Fellowship that made her dreams of traveling the world a reality.
Polanco ended up traveling to five different countries — Italy, Spain, France, Sweden and Australia — for her eight months of service volunteering at churches, soup kitchens and on local farms, even working as an au pair.
“Being able to travel was something I always wanted to do, and I finally had the opportunity to do it through this program,” Polanco said.
UNC’s Global Gap Year Fellowship, one of two gap year programs offered in the country, was established in 2011 by the Campus Y and funded by an anonymous donation of $1.5 million, said the Campus Y’s Global Programs Manager Jakelin Bonilla. Each student selected to be a part of the program receives a grant of up to $7,500 for the year to plan his or her travels and housing.
The only requirements for this program are that the students make their own plan for what they want to do as soon as they apply, which must include a minimum of six months of service.
During the program’s first year, there were 40 applicants and only five incoming freshmen were offered a fellowship. These students are currently sophomores at UNC. The 2013 Global Gap Year Fellows group includes seven students.
Freshman Keegan McBride, a mathematics and chemistry double major, said he wouldn’t have been able to take a gap year without the grant.
“A lot of the things I did during my travels, like traveling to Machu Picchu, I did because I was comfortable spending my own money,” he said.
