Smoking While Pregnant, Homemade Adaptive Technology, Pros And Cons Of Taking A Gap Year

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• Malia Obama's Decision To Delay Harvard Enrollment Puts Spotlight On Gap Years

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  President Barack Obama’s daughter Malia made news this week when the White House announced she would be taking a “gap year” before attending Harvard University, bringing national attention to a growing phenomena.

  Gap years are generally defined as a structured period of time when students take a break from formal education to explore who they are and to experiment with possible careers.

  “It’s intended to basically deepen personal, practical and professional awareness for your future,” said Ethan Knight, executive director and founder of the American Gap Year Association.

  Knight said the experiential semester or year are typically taken between high school and college and has gained popularity over the years, especially after Malia’s announcement.

  “I think Malia Obama certainly propelled us forward probably several years in terms of our growth trajectory. But students have been asking about gap years (for a long time),” he said.

  According to data collected by Knight’s organization and other institutions, students who take a gap year are more likely to graduate on time, have a higher grade-point average and improved overall academic involvement

  “But at the end of the day, I think fundamentally what’s so powerful about the gap year is that it provides an opportunity before you have to start accruing college debt, before you have to start picking a major and choosing some sort of career decisions, to really reflect and say, ‘What do I want to do?” Knight said.

  Gap years began growing in popularity in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. According to recent data, around 30 percent of students in the United Kingdom take a gap year. In the U.S., it’s estimated that between 1 and 2 percent of students take a gap year. But that number of people taking a gap year jumped up 23 percent between 2014-15, said Knight.

  Knight said the two most common reasons students decide to take a gap year include a desire to learn more about themselves and burning out from the competitive pressures of getting into college.

  “I think that the stakes are just perceived to be so high for the college that you get into that oftentimes it’s about how you can present yourself rather than who you really are,” Knight said.

  But what students choose to do is anything but common, and Knight dismissed the perception that gap years are only for privileged people with high-earning parents. He added that there are a variety of organizations out there, including AmeriCorps, that pay for living expenses and award an education grant in exchange for volunteer service.

  “There’s a variety of programs that are available and you know honestly a lot of organizations are really working to add more financial aid resources to their offering,” Knight said.

  Parents concerned that students won’t return to college as they planned probably should worry, said Knight. The rate is less than the average high school student. In fact, he said, the latest alumni data shows that 90 percent of students are back at college within a year of completing their gap year.

• New Website Offers New Views On Adaptive Technology

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  Although there have been many improvements in the tools available to people living with disabilities, sometimes a disabled person’s needs are exclusive to them.

  Inspired by Cindy, a woman living with multiple disabilities as the result of complications from a catastrophic heart attack, Caitrin Lynch, a professor in the Olin College of Engineering, said she is hoping to share some of Cindy’s do-it-yourself (DIY) fixes through a new website, engineeringathome.org.

  Lynch said the website is an archive of Cindy’s ideas and stories behind each one. She said it’s meant to encourage engineering students and other to think in new ways about what counts as engineering, adaptive and assistive technology and even prosthetics.

  “Let’s think in new ways about where we get ideas from and who is empowered to be creating and to be coming up with ideas,” said Lynch.

  “I’ve been very lucky in having fabulous people involved in my care,” said Cindy. “But each person’s story is different and each person’s needs are different.”

  One example of Cindy’s DIY tricks is putting a peel-and-stick hook on jars and other items that she had trouble getting her entire hand around to pick up.

  “That would, obviously, work for people who had weak hands from a stroke, or people who have arthritis and whose fingers don’t bend the way they need to pick up a jar, but with a hook on top it’s totally doable,” she said.

  Lynch these ideas are so simple and yet so life-transforming which make them perfect examples to help train engineers to think in new ways, or empower people to create their own solutions to problems.

  “We don’t need to think of the most hi-tech innovations to be transformative for people’s lives. Cindy also provides an example of what you yourself can do,” said Lynch.

• Wisconsin Maternal Smoking Rate Higher Than National Average

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  A new UW-Milwaukee study found that the rate of women that smoke during their pregnancy in Wisconsin exceeds the national average. Experts say that things like poverty, education, and occupation impact why some women are more likely to smoke during pregnancy than others. A WPR reporter that covered the story tells us more.

• DIY Adaptive Technology

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  Sometimes the high-tech, high-priced technology available for people living with disabilities still falls short. We learn about a project that brings together the DIY movement and people with disabilities to help them create life hacks on their own.

• Examining Gap Years Before College

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  President Obama’s daughter Malia made news this week when it was announced she would be taking a “gap year” before attending Harvard University for her undergraduate studies. Ethan Knight–Executive Director and Founder of the American Gap Association–joins Central Time to talk about the benefits of taking time off before school.