Following his graduation in May, Kaleb Cervantes is looking to pursue travel by taking a gap year to visit different countries outside the U.S. He wants to travel for a couple months around Europe after starting with his first trip after graduation to Tokyo, Japan.
Cervantes is looking forward to meeting new people to discuss life and share experiences. “Just to be able to go out, even around the U.S. would just be very interesting to me to meet people with different views on life,” Cervantes said.
Cervantes’ main goal is to travel around Italy and some other countries in Europe. “Primarily I want to go to Italy, probably France,” Cervantes said. “I want to go to Denmark, Spain, just all over Europe.”
Cervantes wants to travel through a program called WWOOF which will allow him to have a place to stay while traveling. “I would be working in a house or on a farm, like six to eight hours a day, seven days a week, and I would be getting housing and food,” Cervantes said.
Cervantes wants to take pictures that display different cultures during his travels so he can share it with others or publish his photos. “My main goal is to build up a really cool travel portfolio of the lives of people in other countries,” Cervantes said.
After his gap year, Cervantes wants to attend college to become a teacher. “I’m gonna come back and start going to college,” Cervantes said. “I plan on becoming a history teacher.”
Jessica Duncanson, Cervantes’ mom, looks forward to Cervantes exploring different cultures and gaining new outlooks on life from his experiences. “I’m excited for him to come home with so many new and different perspectives,” Duncanson said.
Duncanson feels that it is beneficial to take a gap year because school can be draining for many students. “Many young adults go straight back into a classroom after high school which can feel monotonous and unmotivating,” Duncanson said. “High school graduates are at the perfect age to explore their passions and what really makes them happy.”
Duncanson feels that Cervantes can learn many life lessons from taking a gap year to travel. “The process of him working, saving money and financially planning for the trip itself is a huge life lesson,” Duncanson said.
Sam Duff, a history teacher at Manitou Springs High School feels that Cervantes should be open to new things to really figure out what he wants to do. “Keep all of your options open and really take the time to study and figure out the things that you want to do and how you want to spend your time,” Duff said.
Duff thinks that taking a gap year will allow Cervantes to really grow as a person from experience. “It gives an opportunity to kind of mature and develop a little bit and have a little bit more time to figure out exactly what they want,” Duff said.
Duncanson believes that traveling to different places and experiencing new things can teach you a lot. “I think experiential learning is equally important as academic learning,” Duncanson said. “Being immersed in another culture and lifestyle is something you can’t learn in a classroom.”
Cervantes looks forward to experiencing life before he goes off to college. “I am just excited to live life a little before going straight back to school,” Cervantes said.
