about
My name is Kaitlin Harlow and I am taking a gap year. I have just graduated from Saint Mary's School in Raleigh, NC, and I am now in the middle of planning/preparing for one of the greatest adventures of my life. I will travel across Central and South America with the goals of serving others, learning Spanish, and ideally not losing my passport (despite a rocky track record in this area). I hope to return to start my college career at UNC Chapel Hill in the fall of 2015 with new interests, global perspective, and friends all over the world.
Itinerary
My plans are still in progress as I find and communicate with organizations with whom I hope to volunteer.
| Date | Project | Location |
|
September 15 - December 9
|
Carpe Diem Central America Semester
|
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras
|
|
December 10 - December 28
|
Home
|
Clayton, NC, USA
|
|
December 29 - February 21
|
YMCA Peru summer camps
|
Peru (near Lima)
|
|
February 22- April 4
|
Marketing/Communications volunteer for Building Dignity, an NGO that supports local marginilized communities
|
Lima, Peru
|
|
April 5 - July 5
|
Volunteer with Mosoj Yan (runs shelters, a cafe, and a handicrafts shop to support women/girls living on the streets of Cochabamba) through Sustainable Bolivia
|
Cochabamba, Bolivia
|
I will spend the first part of the year, from September through December, participating in a Carpe Diem program. An excerpt from their website: "Carpe Diem Education provides international academic programs for post high school students focusing on volunteerism, international travel, and self reliance. Simply put, Carpe Diem wants to facilitate meaningful experiences out of the country that work to expand comfort zones and world views. Carpe Diem firmly believes that every student already has everything he/she could ever need and focuses the semester on helping students learn just what it means to take ownership of one’s life."
My mission is...
to gain new understanding and perspective
- of who I am and what matters to me
- of how my personal and cultural beliefs fit into the world
- of the issue of global development
- engaging in service and immersion in developing countries
- challenging my preconceived ideas by striving to understand the view of people in vastly different parts of the globe
- discover new interests and passions to fuel and revitalize my academic direction
- come closer to achieving global citizenship.