It’s a year of real life experience all throughout the world, outside a classroom. Global Citizen Year (GCY) is an award-winning nonprofit social enterprise forging a new educational pathway for America’s emerging leaders. Cameron Carrick is the second student from Bend to go on this academic journey in Senegal, West Africa.
Through a “bridge year” before college, GCY prepares students for success in college, careers and the international economy. Intensive training and placement in communities across Africa, Latin America (and eventually Asia and the Middle East), the Fellows contribute to local efforts in education, technology, health and the environment.
Students begin to develop the large-scale competence, entrepreneurial savvy and self-awareness they need to be transformative leaders in college, careers and life. GCY provides a unique opportunity to develop critical skills, master new tools and learn from recognized experts. Cameron Carrick is the second student from Bend to go on this academic journey in Senegal, West Africa. He is a 2013-14 GCY fellow and is now in the Village of Segou close to the border of Mali and Guinea. He is living with a family that does the baking for the community of 1,200 and helping with agriculture.
Carrick graduated from Summit High School in May and has deferred admission to Quest University of Canada until fall 2014. He hopes to apply what he is learning about the world to the process of selecting the right work for himself in his life. He says he wanted to be in the greater world to examine how best to use the privileges he has as an educated North America white male to apply his gifts.
Fellows like Carrick invest personally in the experience through hard work and individual contribution. Training and leadership begins with outreach and a fundraising campaign amongst the network of supporters.
Carrick started with the summer campaign, a short-term, high-impact initiative designed to teach new fellows how to tell their story, identify and mobilize supporters and leverage a network towards a common goal in order to build the foundation of their GCY experience.
Fall training is the first time the fellows come together as a global cause and collectively prepare for their eight-month journey. The eight-day training leads them through a range of sessions and activities designed to facilitate learning in worldwide competence, entrepreneurial mindset, personal growth and leadership.
GCY helps to develop new skills in becoming fluent in a new language and culture while undergoing critical leadership training in the U.S. and abroad. The biggest benefit of the program for future students is learning how to make the most of college. Students can gain a clear sense of purpose from their experiences and even become equipped to stand out in applications and interviews in college, and beyond.
GCY is committed to unlocking the potential of emerging leaders, regardless of background or economic status. They believe that the ability to pay should not be a barrier to participation and offer generous need-based financial aid to fellows who would not otherwise be able to participate. To date, 80 percent of fellows have received some level of financial aid from GCY and 20 percent have received fully funded fellowships.
Global Citizen Year envisions a world in which the bridge year becomes a common expectation while transforming education, and unleashing the potential of the next generation as social innovators and global citizens.
Follow Carrick’s journey on his blog www.globalcitizenyear.org/author/cameron-carrick/. www.globalcitizenyear.org.
