Stepping Out 

  a student's guide to education beyond the classroom

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GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF ONESELF
cassie in trees

“Stepping out has not only given me the confidence to follow my dreams but been an endless source of inspiration and guidance to discover who I want to be and what I want to make out of my life. “    -Cassie King, 23 (above, swinging through some ferns)

Stepping out is a way to better understand yourself.  Here's how and why:
  • You are able to experience many things you may not have had the chance to thus far, perhaps discovering what it is you want to do for a career.  One student who took a year off through the Interim Program did an internship in both the medical field and journalism, two careers he was interested in.  After spending a year out of school interning, he discovered he was far more passionate about medicine than journalism.  Stepping out may help you better figure our yourself in terms of career interests.
  • You may end up discovering something you're passionate about that you never knew beforehand.  Meredith Fleming, 22, went to Chile as a high schooler.  She explains how the family she lived with was pro-Pinochet (a right-winged Chilean dictator).  She says, "From living with my host family I have learned that I despise authoritarian theocracy and will direct my studies and career towards a better understanding of the social injustice across the globe."  
  • Just the fact that you are learning in setting different than what you are accustomed to (i.e. traditional education) can lead to personal growth and awareness.  William Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions at Harvard, wrote in an article Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation, that “most fundamentally, [“time-out”] is a time to step back and reflect, to gain perspective on personal values and goals, or to gain needed life experience in a setting separate from and independent of one's accustomed pressures and expectations.”  (emphasis added).   The fact that you are learning in a new and unique environment will likely lead to greater self-understanding.  
     
    "The only road to real success is to become more fully oneself, to succeed....on the terms that one oneself defines.” –William Fitzsimmons