Gapsmart! company information, Employees & Contact Information

GapSmart! is an online portal that educates and connects students to Service Gap Year Programs. A Service Gap Year is a period of time dedicated to providing volunteer service and this period could take place after graduating high school before starting college or after college before joining the career world. Today’s students lack the experience, knowledge, and world understanding necessary to make decisions in their lives. By taking a specific time period and dedicating it to community service the individual helps find clarity and choose a productive and fulfilling life direction. Currently, the Gap Year and dedicated volunteer service trends are increasing substantially in the United States. Since 2000 there were approximately twenty service gap year programs1 and by 2009 that number has doubled and existing programs have dramatically increased in size2. Additionally, there have been numerous studies indicating the benefits of taking a gap year3. While the trend is increasing, this does not address the issue that students lack the information and experience to select a career, college major, or gap year program. GapSmart! will connect students with other Gappers and Gap Year Providers to share knowledge and offer support at every stage of the process: researching and selecting; applying and accepting; preparation; the Gap Year itself; and positively leveraging that experience in the future. Students who are partaking in their Gap Year will also have many supports available from GapSmart! such as a network of mentoring alumni who can offer advice to situations Gappers face. Additionally, GapSmart! will combine all of the features of a social network (blogging, picture sharing, status updates smartphone access, etc) alongside safe storage of vital information such as health insurance and travel information.