A Worldwide Education
Ava Grace Magnuson volunteering with Following Giants, an elephant sanctuary in Koh Lanta, Thailand. Photo provided by Ava Magnuson
Ava Grace Magnuson is currently a first-year at Santa Clara University studying communication. She is heavily involved with the club swim team, the Surfrider club, and frequents Into The Wild trips. However, when she graduated from high school in 2023, Magnuson was not too intrigued by the college process. With the support of her parents, and inspired by her older brother who went down a similar path, she decided to take a gap year which would shape her outlook on life as well as her approach to the college experience.
“The college process was pretty stressful, and I never really had a dream school, and I never really felt particularly drawn to one school,” Magnuson said “My parents were totally open to a gap year. I think a lot of parents are hesitant to let their kids take a gap year because they are worried that their kids won’t return to school, but if anything it made me more excited to go to school and learn.”
Magnuson structured her gap year through the company Education First which brings groups of students together through travel programs.
“I did a fall 2023 program which was two and a half months long … and then I got back mid November and the rest of the year I worked at home and helped out my family,” she said. “I went in blind to it. I didn’t know anyone before I went, which was actually really fun because I got to make some great friends that I didn’t know beforehand.”
During her travels, Magnuson visited Thailand, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and Grenada. When asked which country was her favorite, she answered Thailand.
“The nature is beautiful, the people are wonderful and it’s really easy to budget travel in Thailand because U.S. money goes very far.”
As expected, she had many experiences during her gap year that she still looks back on fondly today.
“A smile is understood in every language,” Magnuson replied when asked about her most memorable experiences and greatest lessons learned. “When there’s such a strong language barrier in places like Japan or Thailand, you can’t really interact very well, but one of my favorite moments from my gap year was when I was on Koh Lanta, Thailand–it’s a small island off of Krabi. My friends and I were playing soccer on the beach, and these two Thai little kids were watching us, and they kept getting closer and closer, so we motioned for them to join us, and we played for hours on the beach. They didn’t understand anything we were saying and, we didn’t understand what they were saying, but kindness and just a smile can go so far. That was really special—being able to connect with someone that I wouldn’t be able to connect with here in that way.”
“I sat and stared at it for like two hours,” she said, when describing seeing the Matterhorn for the first time. “It was one of those moments that makes you really appreciate where you are. It’s easy to just keep going when you’re seeing so many cool things like that, but it’s awesome to just sit there and appreciate it.” Magnuson was also able to surf in Australia, volunteer in Thailand at an elephant sanctuary and ski in the Swiss Alps.
But aside from her travels, she spent most of her gap year at home in Massachusetts.
“Even though I got lots of cool pictures and had lots of fun traveling, 80% of my gap year was spent working at home to pay for it, and that too was a very formative experience. I was working at a cafe five to six days a week, and at night I would lifeguard, so I was super busy. On top of that, my grandmother with Alzheimer’s was living with my family at the time, so I was her primary caretaker.”
“Going into college, I knew the worth of money, what it’s like to work a job, and independence,” Magnuson said.
“I would 1000% recommend it,” Magnuson said to those who are exploring the possibility of taking a gap year. “People I meet in college are already saying that they wish they did it, and they’re what? 19? 20? I think it was a great experience. I learned a lot about myself. It made me realize that I really do want to go to college and further my education.” She said that during her gap year, “I became very, very independent. I learned what it’s like to live in other places in the world. I learned about different cultures, how to respect others.”
Magnuson concluded with some words of advice: “There’s no exact way you have to live your life. I mean, it’s so easy when you’re around others to think you have to live it a certain way. In the end, it’s your life and do whatever is best for you.”