Filling the Gap

Even though going straight to college after senior year may still be the norm at Saint Thomas Aquinas, one student is taking a different path. Senior Wesley Weissend plans to take a gap year to pursue a year in a program after his graduation.

“My dad had told me about the organization [National Outdoor Leadership School] a long time ago and I looked into during one of their classic month long courses in the summer,” Weissend said. His original plan was just to do a program in the summer before his freshman year of college.

The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) offers programs for varying amounts of time, ranging from one month to one “year,” which actually spans 185 days. The NOLS describes their mission as “to be the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve people and the environment.” The goal of their programs is to teach their students about wilderness, education, leadership, safety, community, and excellence, and give them the devices to be able to lead their own expeditions in the world.

“While deciding what course I wanted to do, I came across their Year in Patagonia course,” Weissend said. “I hadn’t really thought about taking a gap year before finding the Year in Patagonia, but after, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head.”

The program will take place in NOLS Patagonia, which is in the Aysen Region of Chile. It is a working farm that is near the city of Coyhaique. The program offers to teach the students are wide variety of skills, including wilderness medicine, sea kayaking, and rock climbing. The program also professes to have a strong focus in the Spanish language and cultural interaction.

“After I get back, I am going to try to use the skills I will learn on the trip to lead backpacking and/or hiking trips or maybe as a park ranger for the National Park Service,” Weissend said.

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