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Stressed Stuyvesant students eagerly await the summer after senior year, when AP tests and SATIIs are memories in their college-geared minds. But, for some, those two months are not enough. Instead, these students consider taking a year off before college. During that time, they can engage in activities that their busy high school schedules could not accommodate.

Before going to college, seniors Paul Silverman and Hannah Temkin have decided to attend a year-long program in Israel called the Habonium Dror Workshop. They will spend the first four months of this program on a kibbutz (a collective farm), where they will take classes like Hebrew and Jewish history. There will spend one week in Eastern Europe visiting former concentration camps, followed by another four months living in a house with other participants in the program. Silverman and Temkin will also participate in a “social justice project,” which involves various social service activities such as teaching English to Arab students.

Silverman is excited about the program. “It will help me build a stronger connection with Israel, learn a lot that I wouldn’t get a chance to learn in a classroom and get to know some really amazing people,” he said. Silverman plans to attend Wesleyan after the program.

Temkin feels the same way. She thinks that such programs help one to “learn more about yourself before you go back to school.” According to Temkin, the program in Israel will help her get more focused. “What’s the rush to graduate?” she said. Temkin is still undecided as to which college she will go to.

Before attending either Columbia University or Carleton College, senior Lia Friedman plans to spend at least a semester in New Zealand working on an organic farm through the World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms program. She might spend the other semester interning with the Student Conservation Association or taking part in a National Outdoor Leadership School backpacking program.

Friedman made the decision to take a break before college for numerous reasons, the main one being that “this is one of the few times in my life when I can travel and work without worrying about a reliable source of income or future plans,” she said.

Because she was rather unsatisfied with her high school career at Stuyvesant, Friedman wants to use her break to regain perspective and her initial love for learning. “I know what I want to get out of college, but I think too many people lose track of how interesting the world is when they’re stuck in a dismal place like Stuyvesant, which promotes extremely unhealthy attitudes and practices towards learning,” Friedman said. “I’ve always wanted to learn for my own edification, not just to get into a good college, and I think deferring enrollment is a continuation of that attitude.”

Deke Hill (’06), a Stuyvesant alumnus who now attends Cornell University, also took a year off before college. Hill felt “burnt out after Stuy” and decided to spend a year in Guatemala, where he enrolled in a Spanish school for a few months and later guided hikes for a nonprofit organization. “I felt totally in control of my life, mentally prepared and excited for college,” he wrote in an e-mail interview.

These seniors, though content with their choices, still have some concerns. “I am a little worried about the idea that I will be much older than everyone else in my grade, but, in college, what grade you’re in matters much less than in high school,” Silverman wrote in an e-mail interview.

“I did feel a bit older than a lot of people when I got here [Cornell], but I think that has less to do with being physically a year older than with having lived off on my own, gained some responsibility and maturity,” Hill wrote.

College advisor Pat Cleary supports the idea of students taking a year off. If the student gets good grades, has done research and feels that taking a year off will be beneficial, she supports the student’s decision. Students should do something valuable in that time “that will enhance their growth,” she said.

“I myself took a semester [of college] off, traveled around California and never regretted it,” she said. Cleary attended Indiana University and felt that she wasn’t getting enough, especially in terms of her education in French. She wanted to see a new region and experience something new. She went to Hollywood, where she learned more French from the group of native French-speaking people around her than she had in her years at the University. She described it as a “free French class.”

However, there are some students who would never think of taking a year off. For example, sophomore Joseph Puma feels that taking a year off before college is “bad for your educational experience and for your chances in a career or education in general. You become less sharp as others your age move ahead.”

Though the thought might sound appealing, few Stuyvesant students actually take time off before entering the bustling college scene. However, taking a year off often allows for a worthwhile experience for which there may not be time in light of possible responsibilities later in life.

The concept of postponing college is starting to become more popular amongst Stuyvesant students as they follow the examples of students like Hill. Hill wrote, “Most people rush off to college as fast as they can. I always thought more Stuyvesant kids should consider taking a year off.”