Alissa Guo
Vancouver, British Columbia​
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Alissa Guo was a gap year student from 2021-22 who was burnt out in the IB program and decided to take a gap year. She started working with high school students on STEM-based subjects, and have since saved enough to fund her private pilot license. She learned a whole lot from the process of starting her home-based business and now finally is excited to return to university.
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Alissa is the recipient of the 2022 CanGap Gap Year Alum Scholarship.
Yvan Chukwuemelie Kammelu
Montreal, Quebec
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After graduating from McGill University, Yvan travelled to Nigeria for a gap year. In Nigeria, he connected with family, worked and explored his interest in public health. Instead of going straight into a master’s program, after earning his degree in Kinesiology and Economics, he chose to travel and see what options were out there before deciding on a master’s program. Now, back in Montreal, Yvan is preparing his applications for post-graduate studies. As a CanGap Ambassador, he hopes to share insight from his undergraduate experience to help other gappers make the best decision when picking university programs. Yvan is also a model and a freelance graphic artist. He enjoys dancing, taking pictures and travelling.
Madeleine Moser
Calgary, Alberta
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Madeleine decided to take a gap year after feeling uncertain about her future. Her hobbies include baking, hiking, indoor planting, studying, and traveling. Living so close to the mountains, she is incredibly grateful that she is exposed to such beautiful wildlife right at her fingertips. Madeleine loves spending time with her loved ones, and she especially enjoys being able to see the joy in their face after eating a delicious baked meal from her! She loves meeting new people and hopes to make plenty of connections during this time. She intends on strengthening her skills/passions this year and by the time university rolls around, she’ll be ready!
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Maddie is the recipient of the 2022 CanGap Gap Year Scholarship.
Calgary, Alberta
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Madeleine decided to take a gap year after feeling uncertain about her future. Her hobbies include baking, hiking, indoor planting, studying, and traveling. Living so close to the mountains, she is incredibly grateful that she is exposed to such beautiful wildlife right at her fingertips. Madeleine loves spending time with her loved ones, and she especially enjoys being able to see the joy in their face after eating a delicious baked meal from her! She loves meeting new people and hopes to make plenty of connections during this time. She intends on strengthening her skills/passions this year and by the time university rolls around, she’ll be ready!
Valérie (Val) Deveaux
Moncton, New Brunswick
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Val is a francophone gap year student, taking a pause from her Masters in Psychotherapy. She loves spending time in nature, camping, promoting sustainability, and meditating. She's opted to take a gap from school in order to spend time doing the things she loves, since she hasn't taken a full month off since high school, yikes!
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​Valérie est notre seule ambassadrice francophone, wouhou! Elle a décidé de prendre une pause de sa maîtrise en psychothérapie après avoir réalisé que sa dernière vraie pause était au secondaire, yikes! Elle aime passer du temps dans la nature, faire du camping, et promouvoir un style de vie durable. Elle a bien hâte de jazer avec vous!
Karan Agrawal
Toronto, Ontario
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Karan Agrawal is a gap year alum who earned $83,000 & professional experience within one of the Top 5 Banks in Canada during his gap year. He started his first year of post-secondary education in 2020 within the Mechanical Engineering disciple where him & his family struggled financially & emotionally due to the pandemic’s toll. To help his family out, he decided to take a gap year to support them both financially & emotionally, while exploring new career paths as Mechanical Engineering never was his primary interest. Although he dealt with much uncertainty & pain, the reward for Karan was well worth it at the end as he secured a high income in which now he’s saving to buy a home for his family, found his real passion in data analysis thus explaining his switch to the Industrial Engineering discipline, and finally helped his family recover from the negative toll the pandemic had.