Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. So pretty do
Speaker 1: you regret you regret not taking a gap here? I
Speaker 1: would like travel the world. Wait tables, it's not too late,
Speaker 1: lived the whole, Lizzie McGuire, it's not too late. I
Speaker 1: will consider it gonna happen. I'm gonna ask my manager
Speaker 1: for a year. All right, if you, hopefully you come
Speaker 1: back from this really cool vacation that you're going on
Speaker 1: and you don't decide to take a gap here. Let's
Speaker 1: talk more about gap years and really why our next
Speaker 1: guest thinks that they can really provide an advantage to
Speaker 1: students who do take that break between high school and college.
Speaker 1: Aaron Llewellen is the CEO of Global Citizen Year. It's
Speaker 1: in our organization that is more than a decade old.
Speaker 1: It's based in Oakland, and it's a nonprofit that helps
Speaker 1: to shape the next generation of leaders by recruiting what
Speaker 1: they call diverse and talented students to spend eight immersive
Speaker 1: months between high school and college, living overseas with a
Speaker 1: host of family. Aaron, how are you. I'm doing great? Thanks,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 1: So we are living vicariously through all the students who
Speaker 1: are taking time after high school to live outside of
Speaker 1: the US. Talk to us a little bit about the
Speaker 1: interest that you're seeing right now, because I do wonder
Speaker 1: here we are on the hopefully getting close to the
Speaker 1: other side of the pandemic, although I think this is
Speaker 1: just here to stay. But I'm wondering what you're seeing
Speaker 1: in terms of demand for the program right now as
Speaker 1: we do navigate this new normal. Absolutely, the demand has
Speaker 1: been has never been higher for the what for what
Speaker 1: we're offering, and I think it continues to climb all
Speaker 1: over the place as people rethink the linear path we've
Speaker 1: been taking for education and think maybe maybe this linear
Speaker 1: path is not serving all of our needs right now.
Speaker 1: When you think about that a little bit differently, well,
Speaker 1: think about little bit, what about the costs associated with
Speaker 1: something like this, anything new given this inflationary environment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: great question. We're thinking about that too. We're thinking about
Speaker 1: how to think things are different now that we are
Speaker 1: navigating this the moment, as you know, with regard to inflation,
Speaker 1: also with regard to coming out of this pandemic, or
Speaker 1: being still in this pandemic wherever we wanna, you know,
Speaker 1: call ourselves there. But how do we think about our
Speaker 1: programming that UM offers flexibility and also meets people where
Speaker 1: they are financially right now? So a global citizen here,
Speaker 1: we're committed to making sure that young people can do
Speaker 1: this no matter what and have meaningful experiences. Yes, you
Speaker 1: can take a gap year, you can work, that's an
Speaker 1: awesome experience too, But having an experience where you can
Speaker 1: actually UM learn, get get outside your comfort zone, travel
Speaker 1: that's not available to everyone and it should be. So
Speaker 1: how do we continue to think about financial aid for
Speaker 1: those programs supporting young people from all different types of backgrounds,
Speaker 1: and that's something that's very important to us. A global
Speaker 1: citizen here, Well, how much does it cost? Darin? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so right now? So well, it's a good question because
Speaker 1: we're about to launch, so it's gonna be a own.
Speaker 1: We haven't set the pricing yet for us, but it's
Speaker 1: about it can be around twenty five dollars to to
Speaker 1: do something like this, and for us, that's the tuition mark,
Speaker 1: and we think that this is an incredible experience. It's
Speaker 1: uh certainly fits in with UH you know higher ed
Speaker 1: and a semester at a higher ed institution. But what
Speaker 1: we do is we meet you where you're at financially,
Speaker 1: So if you get into Global Citizen here, you then
Speaker 1: go through a financial aid process and you pay what
Speaker 1: makes sense for you and your family. And that's something
Speaker 1: that needs to be more accessible for for young people
Speaker 1: and certainly is the only reason I got to have
Speaker 1: the experience I got to have UM. But we meet
Speaker 1: people where they are and make sure that they can
Speaker 1: if they can get in UH, that that finances are
Speaker 1: not the reason they can't do this. Where do a
Speaker 1: lot of these students want to go, because unlike Lizzie McGuire,
Speaker 1: it can't all be Italy. Where did they go? Right?
Speaker 1: I think what we're finding is they want to go
Speaker 1: to places that are UM less traveled. So we're finding
Speaker 1: so we're we're launching this year, will be launching in
Speaker 1: Cape Town. So South Africa was high on the list
Speaker 1: of where young people wanted to go. UM, places like Ecuador, Mexico,
Speaker 1: a lot of Spanish speaking countries you can imagine UM
Speaker 1: and then also UM we're we're we're in India because
Speaker 1: we we find that the other piece that we're noticing
Speaker 1: for young people as they want to be where there's um.
Speaker 1: They can see a lot of opportunity. They can see
Speaker 1: the US, for example, interacting a lot um. They're on
Speaker 1: a global stage. They're economically um, you know, an economic player, um.
Speaker 1: And so they want to go to those places. But
Speaker 1: they're also the places that aren't Italy, they aren't England.
Speaker 1: They're a little bit different there there um more um
Speaker 1: sort of they get to engage it a little bit differently.
Speaker 1: What is the curriculum here, Aaron, Because when when you
Speaker 1: send a seventeen eighteen year old abroad there there has
Speaker 1: to be some structure to this. Yes, right, you're not
Speaker 1: just sending them to another country to live with a
Speaker 1: host family. Tell us about that structure. Yeah, so uh,
Speaker 1: And what we're actually finding also from parents and students
Speaker 1: is they want this blend of agency and structure. They
Speaker 1: don't want to just be sent off to go um
Speaker 1: explore somewhere. They want they want to they want the
Speaker 1: learning that enhances what they're seeing and participating in. So
Speaker 1: for us, it's the blend of experience plus the wrap
Speaker 1: around uh curriculum that helps enhance the experience when you're
Speaker 1: when you, you know, partner with global citizen your You
Speaker 1: are placed in a community, you live in that community,
Speaker 1: you work in that community every day, and you work
Speaker 1: alongside local experts in that community. So they could be
Speaker 1: experts like in air is, like human rights, they could
Speaker 1: be experts in climate, climate change or education for example.
Speaker 1: You're working alongside them, you're supporting the work, you're collaborating,
Speaker 1: and then you're learning from them about the local context,
Speaker 1: the local perspective, how that might be different than where
Speaker 1: you came from. And it follows a pattern. So then
Speaker 1: the curriculum overlays this experience, and the pattern is learn
Speaker 1: about yourself, learn about your community that you're in right now,
Speaker 1: and then learn about how that connects to the world
Speaker 1: at large, so that you can have a much deeper
Speaker 1: understanding of Um, the issues at hand and how complex
Speaker 1: they are and what types of complex solutions are going
Speaker 1: to be needed to meet the needs that we have today. Aaron,
Speaker 1: is the working happening in a in a local language
Speaker 1: or is it happening in English? Well, there are hopes
Speaker 1: of learning the local language. Yeah, so to two different ways. So, Um,
Speaker 1: when we we were in pre pandemic, we were in Ecuador,
Speaker 1: and the king is happening in Spanish, so there's a
Speaker 1: ramp up to the language. We also have been in
Speaker 1: India where you're getting language classes but you're working in English,
Speaker 1: and the same will happen in South Africa, you'll be
Speaker 1: working in English. So uh, it's it depends on which
Speaker 1: country you're going to. So Aaron, when you say working,
Speaker 1: can you explain a little bit in terms of what
Speaker 1: kind of roles they have? Yeah? So uh so for example,
Speaker 1: so uh in Cape Town, we've partnered with thirty different
Speaker 1: human rights organizations who have agreed and are excited to
Speaker 1: have a young person who's hungry to get in and
Speaker 1: um and be helpful in any way they can to
Speaker 1: support their work. So they could be working on some
Speaker 1: sort of campaign where they're um, you know, working with
Speaker 1: the local community around issues related raising awareness on issues
Speaker 1: related to a certain issue. That young person could join
Speaker 1: that campaign and help, you know, distribute something, help come
Speaker 1: up with the plan. Um. They would be really following
Speaker 1: the direction of the local leader, but really an extra
Speaker 1: set of arms, legs and and brainpower if if helpful. UM.
Speaker 1: Another example, as we have a partnership in India where
Speaker 1: we work with teach for India and the people who
Speaker 1: go to India in our program, our teachers assistants, so
Speaker 1: they're following the direction of the teacher, but they're doing
Speaker 1: small groups. They're doing you know, interventions with young people
Speaker 1: who maybe UH need extra help UM those types of things. Hey,
Speaker 1: I want to end Aaron just by a question I
Speaker 1: think that parents would have if they can't afford something
Speaker 1: like this, which and I know you said that they're
Speaker 1: a good portion of the students who do go on
Speaker 1: this uh do get financial aid. But if they are
Speaker 1: thinking about this, how do they know if their kid
Speaker 1: is ready just in the last minute that we have Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think that if you're what we're finding,
Speaker 1: what parents are telling us is their their their kid
Speaker 1: is ready for UM an experience. They want to they
Speaker 1: want to create positive impact, and they want to take
Speaker 1: that that desire and turn it into something that feels
Speaker 1: real and tangible. UM. And if your kid is in
Speaker 1: that camp where they're just itching to learn something outside
Speaker 1: of a classroom, especially coming out of the pandemic, then
Speaker 1: this type of opportunity is just rich UM with learning
Speaker 1: that doesn't always happen in an academic setting. UM. And
Speaker 1: I think that That's what I will be looking for, like,
Speaker 1: is my child ready for something? Are they hungry for
Speaker 1: something that gives them a little bit more meaning and
Speaker 1: what they're doing a little more purpose, what they might study.
Speaker 1: Then this is the this is the road to go.
Speaker 1: We got to get a gap. You're going for the
Speaker 1: parents out there, that's what that's what I want to see.
Speaker 1: Aaron Llewellyn, chief executive officer at Global Citizen Year, joining
Speaker 1: us be a zoom from Oakland, California. This is Bloomberg