As new Parker alumni wake up tangled in brand-new twin bedding on aged dorm mattresses and pore over course catalogues, every year an increasing number of their peers are absent from college campuses in the fall.

As of 2014, out of around 400 graduates over the past five years, only three students had opted to take an official gap year between high school and college. From the class of 2017, however, four students –Samantha Sacks, Julia Smith, Ayelet Spertus, and JJ Freedman– are currently taking an official gap year before their freshman year of college. Sacks is presently spending the year in Cuba as part of a ballet program, Spertus is interning at St. Michael’s Child and Youth Care Centre, a girl’s shelter just outside of Cape Town, South Africa, and Freedman is his year in Chicago with his family.

The USA Gap Year Fairs, a national and annual event circuit that features reputable gap year organizations, began in 2006. In the past ten years, the national interest in gap years has caused the fair to expand from seven fairs across the country to 35, attracting about 4,000 students and 50 organizations.

The College Counseling office was unavailable for comment, however, according to Thinking Beyond Borders, a popular gap year program, “A gap year can absolutely help you find a sense of direction for your college and professional careers. By gaining perspectives of what it’s like to work within a given field or explore a particular interest, you’ll be far better prepared to take advantage of the incredible learning college offers.

In June, Julia Smith ‘17 made the decision to transfer from the University of Illinois to the University of Cincinnati, and postpone college for a year, in order to remain in close proximity to her dad and her younger sister, in Cincinnati OH.

“My day to day right now basically consists of taking care of my sister,” Smith said. “Getting her up, making her breakfast… and, whenever I can, I work. For the last few months I worked at a canoe livery on the Little Miami River, called Scenic River Canoe. It was really cool.”

Parker has a 100% graduation and college acceptance rate. Currently worldwide, 90% of students who opt to take a gap year return to college within a year.

“At Parker, a lot of kids I found didn’t really understand the value of a dollar,” Smith said. “By working, I’ve learned how to use my money effectively, and plan ahead. There’s a lot of experience that I’m gaining from not going to school this year. I’m starting life in the real world, not having to worry too much about an academic structure, and really learning and growing from my own experiences.”

Some students who delay college do so after beginning their college educations, or simply make the decision not to pursue this path. Twins Eddie and Iz Burns ‘16, are both presently not attending college.

Iz attended college for one semester before postponing, returning to Chicago, and pursuing his music. “The day I left for college, I played North Coast music festival, walked offstage, and literally went to the airport,” Iz said. “Before I went to college, we’d released a project, and halfway through the semester, it started blowing up. It became too hard to do college and have a full time job with music, and we were doing so well. I had to come home.”

Eddie’s choice to take a gap-year after his senior year was a fairly spontaneous one. “I decided that even though I wanted to go to school, I was definitely going to take a gap year,” he said. “All year I had been doing lots of music things, playing shows, I started working harder, I got some opportunities, which turned into even more opportunities. Eventually I thought, ‘I love doing this, and I’m happy doing this,’ so I emailed the admissions person.”

Currently, at 19, the Burns twins’ most most listened to track has 153,000 thousand listens on Soundcloud. They are both living in Chicago, are active in the music scene, and have played shows around the city with their band and other bands– their biggest gig being their performance at Lollapalooza in August. Neither of them has returned the college.

“Music is my job,” Eddie said. “When I say work, I mean work. We’re busy. Performing, practicing, recording, meeting people… Taking time off was the best thing for our career. We would not be where we are without having done that, and neither of us has any regrets. We love what we do, and taking time off is part of what got us there.”

Iz is not sure whether or not he will ever return to school. “I went to college under the impression that I was going to go to school for fifteen years and become a surgeon, and I still think, maybe, in 25 years, I’ll maybe return to that,” he said. “But that’s way down the line. I love being a musician, and for right now, music is my job.”

Junior Audrey Shadle is planning to take a gap year after graduating from Parker in the spring of 2019. “I’m extremely interested in taking a gap year, and pretty set on it,” Shadle said. “The first thing I want to do is build a tiny house. I’m also considering doing a semester-long gap year program in France, in order to keep up my academics as well as my French, in addition to possibly hiking part of The Great Trail– a trail from the Atlantic to the Pacific they’ve just opened in Canada. I think it’s a great opportunity to learn more about the world and pursue something I’m passionate about before entering another four years of school.”

Iz agrees with Shadle’s sentiments. “If you’re thinking about diverging from the college path, find something that’s really incredible for you, something you’re extremely passionate about, something you want to focus on for at least a year,” Iz said. Work in an industry, travel, but don’t sit at home. If you’re at a place where you want to explore the world and let a formal education wait, do something that is going to broaden your horizons. Follow those passions and what you love now and see if it can take you places.”