Kai Bauer graduated from Academic Magnet this past year with the class of 2014.  During all four of her years at Magnet, Kai participated in the Crew Team and The Reach Club.  She also founded and served as the president of The Gender Equality Matters Club.  After graduating, Kai decided to take a gap year to travel to Bali, Indonesia.  I recently reached out to her to ask her about this experience.  Below is what she wrote to me:

After graduating Academic Magnet in 2014, I moved to Bali, Indonesia with my family. Almost immediately I started interning at Green School, a progressive environmental school that is literally the “greenest” school on earth. Settled in the jungle and built entirely out of bamboo, Green School attracts a variety of motivated people that are drawn to the unique school system and the curricular freedom afforded to its teachers.

Photos of the Green School where Kai interned:

After teaching SAT prep, tutoring Algebra 1 students, and running an English learning support class for 9th graders, I have been given the amazing opportunity to jointly teach an upper level class that I created and developed. With the help of their incredible English teacher, “Hero or Killer? The Ambivalence of American Sniper” became a reality.  Investigating the Iraq War with the students has solidified my interest in the legality of war and how we need to limit violent conflicts. While nothing is set in stone, pursuing a career as a humanitarian lawyer is something I will work towards when I start at New York University next fall.

I can honestly say taking a gap year is the best decision I have ever made. Being able to travel solo internationally has been a wonderfully clichéd coming of age experience that I wholeheartedly encourage other students to seek out. I know gap years don’t always seem financially viable, and while I was very fortunate to be able to live mostly with my family abroad, I know so many young travelers who worked in Australia or New Zealand to fund their trips around the world. I wouldn’t have deferred my enrollment to school without the coaxing of a friend from England, where gap years are almost standard, so I hope that my experience may serve as inspiration to someone else in the Magnet community. I’ll be working over the summer in Australia if anyone wants to join! Best wishes to the graduating class of 2015 and good luck on all your adventures next year.