Generating Genius to Bring Gap Year to Jamaica

Generating Genius, the United Kingdom-based charity behind the summer programme that introduces boys in the UK and Jamaica to careers in the sciences, engineering and business, is bringing the Gap Year programme to Jamaica this August.
The organization will be introducing a three-week project called Jamtech, where pre-university students, age 16 to 18, will travel to Jamaica to learn about environmental sciences, while experiencing the country’s culture and the arts, and undertaking community service.
The initiative, which is also open to Jamaican students, will provide the young participants with a wider experience beyond mere academics and help them to access top universities here and overseas.
The Gap Year also known as ‘year off’, ‘deferred year’, or ‘time out’ is a popular programme with students around the world and is usually taken before or during university or college, between college and graduate school, or before starting a profession. There are many companies that offer specialist Gap Year programmes across the world.
Founder of Generating Genius, Dr. Tony Sewell, told JIS News that the Gap Year provides students with an edge when competing for university places.
“Students in Europe and America have now realised that getting that place at university or that top corporate job requires more than academic qualifications.
Increasingly, students are being asked what other experience they have.
“There is evidence to show that students, who have travelled abroad and have undertaken some kind of Gap (Year) vacation, have a better chance of getting a top university spot and landing that top job. It is no surprise that most of Her Majesty the Queen’s grandchildren have benefited from a Gap Year prior to university,” Dr. Sewell said.
He said the key benefit for students is that it takes them out of their comfort zone and helps them to become more mature.
“They learn service, specific skills, improve their fitness and demonstrate enterprise and imagination by responding to challenge. More specifically they also can get a Duke of Edinburgh award, one of the most highly accredited youth award schemes in the world,” he stated.
For students, who want to participate in the programme, Dr. Sewell said “this is a paid programme and we have limited spaces. Students will have to show their last school report and we do undertake a quality check interview, so that students meet our expectations. Individuals can apply and also schools and colleges can buy spaces for their students, using it as an end of school year prize.”