Encouraging Next-Generation Leaders to Explore

and you don't decide to take a gap here. Let's talk more about gap years and really why our next guest thinks that they can really provide an advantage to students who do take that break between high school and college. Aaron Llewellen is the CEO of Global Citizen Year. It's in our organization that is more than a decade old.

It's based in Oakland, and it's a nonprofit that helps to shape the next generation of leaders by recruiting what they call diverse and talented students to spend eight immersive months between high school and college, living overseas with a host of family. Aaron, how are you. I'm doing great? Thanks, thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks so much for joining us. So we are living vicariously through all the students who are taking time after high school to live outside of

the US. Talk to us a little bit about the interest that you're seeing right now, because I do wonder here we are on the hopefully getting close to the other side of the pandemic, although I think this is just here to stay. But I'm wondering what you're seeing in terms of demand for the program right now as

we do navigate this new normal. Absolutely, the demand has been has never been higher for the what for what we're offering, and I think it continues to climb all over the place as people rethink the linear path we've been taking for education and think maybe maybe this linear path is not serving all of our needs right now. When you think about that a little bit differently, well, think about little bit, what about the costs associated with

something like this, anything new given this inflationary environment. Yeah, great question. We're thinking about that too. We're thinking about how to think things are different now that we are navigating this the moment, as you know, with regard to inflation, also with regard to coming out of this pandemic, or being still in this pandemic wherever we wanna, you know, call ourselves there. But how do we think about our programming that UM offers flexibility and also meets people where

they are financially right now? So a global citizen here, we're committed to making sure that young people can do this no matter what and have meaningful experiences. Yes, you can take a gap year, you can work, that's an awesome experience too, But having an experience where you can actually UM learn, get get outside your comfort zone, travel

that's not available to everyone and it should be. So how do we continue to think about financial aid for those programs supporting young people from all different types of backgrounds, and that's something that's very important to us. A global citizen here, Well, how much does it cost? Darin? Yeah, so right now? So well, it's a good question because we're about to launch, so it's gonna be a own.

We haven't set the pricing yet for us, but it's about it can be around twenty five dollars to to do something like this, and for us, that's the tuition mark, and we think that this is an incredible experience. It's uh certainly fits in with UH you know higher ed and a semester at a higher ed institution. But what we do is we meet you where you're at financially, So if you get into Global Citizen here, you then go through a financial aid process and you pay what

makes sense for you and your family. And that's something that needs to be more accessible for for young people and certainly is the only reason I got to have the experience I got to have UM. But we meet people where they are and make sure that they can if they can get in UH, that that finances are not the reason they can't do this. Where do a lot of these students want to go, because unlike Lizzie McGuire, it can't all be Italy. Where did they go? Right?

I think what we're finding is they want to go to places that are UM less traveled. So we're finding so we're we're launching this year, will be launching in Cape Town. So South Africa was high on the list of where young people wanted to go. UM, places like Ecuador, Mexico, a lot of Spanish speaking countries you can imagine UM and then also UM we're we're we're in India because we we find that the other piece that we're noticing for young people as they want to be where there's um.

They can see a lot of opportunity. They can see the US, for example, interacting a lot um. They're on a global stage. They're economically um, you know, an economic player, um. And so they want to go to those places. But they're also the places that aren't Italy, they aren't England. They're a little bit different there there um more um sort of they get to engage it a little bit differently.

What is the curriculum here, Aaron, Because when when you send a seventeen eighteen year old abroad there there has to be some structure to this. Yes, right, you're not just sending them to another country to live with a host family. Tell us about that structure. Yeah, so uh, And what we're actually finding also from parents and students is they want this blend of agency and structure. They don't want to just be sent off to go um explore somewhere. They want they want to they want the

learning that enhances what they're seeing and participating in. So for us, it's the blend of experience plus the wrap around uh curriculum that helps enhance the experience when you're when you, you know, partner with global citizen your You are placed in a community, you live in that community, you work in that community every day, and you work

alongside local experts in that community. So they could be experts like in air is, like human rights, they could be experts in climate, climate change or education for example. You're working alongside them, you're supporting the work, you're collaborating, and then you're learning from them about the local context, the local perspective, how that might be different than where

you came from. And it follows a pattern. So then the curriculum overlays this experience, and the pattern is learn about yourself, learn about your community that you're in right now, and then learn about how that connects to the world at large, so that you can have a much deeper understanding of Um, the issues at hand and how complex they are and what types of complex solutions are going to be needed to meet the needs that we have today. Aaron, is the working happening in a in a local language

or is it happening in English? Well, there are hopes of learning the local language. Yeah, so to two different ways. So, Um, when we we were in pre pandemic, we were in Ecuador, and the king is happening in Spanish, so there's a ramp up to the language. We also have been in India where you're getting language classes but you're working in English, and the same will happen in South Africa, you'll be working in English. So uh, it's it depends on which

country you're going to. So Aaron, when you say working, can you explain a little bit in terms of what kind of roles they have? Yeah? So uh so for example, so uh in Cape Town, we've partnered with thirty different human rights organizations who have agreed and are excited to have a young person who's hungry to get in and um and be helpful in any way they can to

support their work. So they could be working on some sort of campaign where they're um, you know, working with the local community around issues related raising awareness on issues related to a certain issue. That young person could join that campaign and help, you know, distribute something, help come up with the plan. Um. They would be really following the direction of the local leader, but really an extra

set of arms, legs and and brainpower if if helpful. UM. Another example, as we have a partnership in India where we work with teach for India and the people who go to India in our program, our teachers assistants, so they're following the direction of the teacher, but they're doing small groups. They're doing you know, interventions with young people

who maybe UH need extra help UM those types of things. Hey, I want to end Aaron just by a question I think that parents would have if they can't afford something like this, which and I know you said that they're a good portion of the students who do go on

this uh do get financial aid. But if they are thinking about this, how do they know if their kid is ready just in the last minute that we have Yeah, I mean I think that if you're what we're finding, what parents are telling us is their their their kid is ready for UM an experience. They want to they want to create positive impact, and they want to take that that desire and turn it into something that feels

real and tangible. UM. And if your kid is in that camp where they're just itching to learn something outside of a classroom, especially coming out of the pandemic, then this type of opportunity is just rich UM with learning that doesn't always happen in an academic setting. UM. And I think that That's what I will be looking for, like,

is my child ready for something? Are they hungry for something that gives them a little bit more meaning and what they're doing a little more purpose, what they might study. Then this is the this is the road to go. We got to get a gap. You're going for the parents out there, that's what that's what I want to see. Aaron Llewellyn, chief executive officer at Global Citizen Year, joining us be a zoom from Oakland, California. This is Bloomberg