Sample Interim Year Scenarios - "Emily"

Emily returned home from her sophomore year of college having made a decision that terrified her parents: after a lackluster spring semester, she decided that she needed a break from academia. She had lost all interest in classes, had no clear idea of what to study and felt that she was wasting her parents' money.

During her first meeting with Interim, Emily revealed that she wasn't particularly adventurous. Although she admired people who had been to the wilds of South America and Asia, on a scale of 1-10, with "1" being wimpy and "10" being a pioneer, Emily was a self-described "4". She wanted to do social service work, improve her Spanish, and meet students her own age. We discussed a number of student group programs. Most appealing was a semester of service work in Central America with a group of peers and two group leaders. She would use her Spanish in home stays and for community service projects. An added bonus was getting SCUBA certified.

A tentative plan for the year was thus:

Emily headed off to Central America in the fall, fully expecting to follow the original plan. While she was there, something unexpected happened. She came into our office upon her return in December and announced, "I'm now an 11!" Her travels in Central America had opened up a hidden adventurous side; she found that she loved exploring on her own, meeting locals, and relying on her improving Spanish to navigate the culture. She asked if it was too late to change her spring plans because now she wanted true fluency in Spanish and independence from American peers - the Spain group semester was too much a "little America abroad."

Some language school students she'd met in Central America told her how much they'd enjoyed Chile and this piqued her interest. Our contact in Chile checked with local orphanages and located an opening at a girls' home. Another Interim student had recently been there and after Emily chatted with her, she was eager to go. Upon her acceptance, she spent the spring as a teacher's assistant and living at the girls' home. Although complete dependency on her Spanish was difficult at first, she soon found herself comfortably speaking the language.

By the end of her Interim year, Emily had acquired real fluency in Spanish and a level of independence that she didn't think possible.