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Name: LEAPNOW: Transforming Education |
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Our program LEAPYEAR is a better alternative to a first year of college. It involves: --3 months of group study and adventure travel in Asia or Latin America --3 months of solo internship anywhere in the world. --Formal Rites of passage into adulthood. --Four 2 week retreats in the U.S. 20 Students per LEAPYEAR with 2 LEAPYEARS run per Fall Semester totaling 40 students per year. Student to staff ratio is 2:1. |
Mahatma Gandhi exhorted us with his actions and words to "be the change that you wish to see in the world." How can you learn to "be the change" in an educational system that asks you to sit in a chair and listen for 16 years in a row? A better alternative to 16 uninterrupted years in the classroom is to take time for exploration - real exploration that leads to life experience, perspective, and the beginnings of wisdom.
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Two LEAPYEAR programs are available starting in the fall of 2008. Both groups start in September and run through the 2008/09 academic year. The first of these groups will travel to India. The second program travels to South America. During the second semester internship months, participants travel on their own. A full year of college credit is earned by each participant. RETREAT WEEKS: 8 weeks at LEAPNOW's northern California campus. These weeks are the backbone of the program - and the foundation for all further worldwide exploration. The focus is on working with peers to learn vital life skills, undergo rites of passage, enhance emotional literacy, and build supportive community. Each day includes at least one hour of a physical discipline (yoga, t'ai chi, dance), four hours of work, free time, and 3-6 hours of the living skills curriculum. Follow this link for more detail about the Living Skills Curriculum. FIRST SEMESTER IN INDIA or SOUTH AMERICA (10 Weeks): Each participant chooses between the two programs. In South America group members study Spanish, do environmental and construction work, and study sustainable living in the Patagonian Andes in Ecuador, Bolivia & Peru. India participants do service work, study yoga, learn meditation, trek in the Himalayas, and learn Hindi or Tibetan language. More about the Group Semesters in South America and India. RITE OF PASSAGE CEREMONY: The retreat weeks after the mid-year break culminate in a dramatic rite of passage into adulthood. One or both parents join the participants for two days to give their son or daughter their blessings while consciously letting them go into adulthood. SOLO INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIP (12 Weeks): Following the rite of passage, participants travel on their own to do an internship, apprenticeship, or volunteer work in a country of their choice. This builds on the first semester of group travel, and allows for tailored career or other exploration and language acquisition. Participants access LEAPNOW's database of hundreds of options to find a fitting internship. Read more about the Solo International Internship. ONE YEAR OF ONGOING SUPPORT AND RESOURCES: The final two weeks of the program are devoted to making transitions effectively, exploring the job market, re-entry to the larger world, endings, and program closure. After the formal program ends, participants have access to a full year of life path counseling, a database of internships and jobs, and ongoing annual reunions. Program graduates are encouraged to return as interns with LEAPYEAR to assist future groups and deepen their own learning through teaching and service. What makes LEAPYEAR unique is the synthesis of so many valuable experiences and teachings - bringing together grounded life skills acquisition, rites of passage, group travel, individual internships and service work abroad, spiritual pilgrimage, and a curriculum focused on awareness and personal maturation. Many programs that purport to be transformative give you an experience, but then provide little or no follow up - it's as if you fall off the edge of the world. You then have to work out how to integrate the experience on your own. LEAPYEAR gives graduates a full year of access to resources, counsel, and follow up workshops to insure that what is gained is retained, and built upon. LEAPYEAR takes the whole person into account - working with the body, the emotions, the mind and the spirit - providing an amazing laboratory for a person to fundamentally change their life. People learn slowly, and a year gives them time enough to alter habits that may have been laid down over a decade or more. Not only is LEAPYEAR a place to deal with elevated topics such as life purpose, but it's also a place to write your first resume, learn to cook and bake, and try on possible careers. |
Integrity - Integrity is the foundation of the curriculum - a neglected value in our modern society. Without understanding how to live in and maintain our integrity, we build our lives on sand. We divide Integrity into the three teachable skills of: Feeling your Feelings, Telling the Truth, and Keeping your Agreements. Personal Life Map: - Comprehensive Life Review - Exploration of Core Values - Identification of Life Goals - Rites of Passage & Life Transitions - Identification of Barriers to Success Understanding the World of Work: - Acquisition of Practical Skills: Carpentry, Cooking/Baking, Gardening/Landscaping - Work Experience in Construction, Environmental Work, Social Service - Internship: career exploration through a 3-month personalized internship - Job Readiness Skills: Resume, Mock interviews, Public Speaking, Presentations v Career Paths Exploration - Presentations on "How to navigate college & make it work for you" Cross-Cultural Exploration - One month of intensive Spanish study and three months of Spanish practice, homestays, service work OR Intensive exposure to the religions, culture and people of India - Living & working in 5-7 different countries - Exploration of our own cultural assumptions Cultivation of the Body - Daily work outdoors - The basics of nutrition - Daily physical discipline (yoga, dance, movement, tai ch'i) - Breathwork - Meeting physical challenges such as diving, trekking and construction work - Learning how to remain grounded in our bodies under stress Cultivation of the Mind - Regular writing & journaling - Meditation - Learn new skills then teach to others - Group presentations & storytelling - Required readings throughout the year - Learning effective teaching & presentation techniques - Development of mental discipline through understanding emotion, practicing meditation and daily physical discipline, and through meeting inner & outer challenges. Developing Emotional Literacy - Learning to identify primary feelings: fear, anger, sadness, excitement - Locating feelings in our bodies - Learn to constructively work with and express feelings Social Skill Acquisition - Communication: Conscious Speech, Conscious Listening - Conflict Resolution - Working together - Care and Feeding of Community - Embracing Differences - Balancing Group & Individual Needs
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