6/23/2009 - Wellesley High grad to spend year studying in Panama
By Astrid Lamparter-Nowak for the Wicked Local Wellesley
WELLESLEY - Like most of her friends Lily Stowell spent much of her junior year looking at colleges, and her summer filling out college applications. She was planning for the years after her graduation from Wellesley High School, and already knew that study abroad would factor strongly in her decisions about colleges. By the time her first acceptance letters arrived in the mail, she knew that whatever school she would attend would need to embrace her decision to defer admission for a year while she lived and studied abroad.
“I realized I had reached a point in my life where I needed to further expand my horizon,” the 18-year-old said. “Studying at a university in Panama for a year seemed like the perfect opportunity.” Lily applied through AFS (formerly the American Field Service), to spend a “gap-year” in a foreign country where she would stay with a host family and attend university.
“I am really excited about the prospect of living with a local family, that way I’ll gain a more authentic insight of the country’s culture and traditions,” she said. “And I’m sure my Spanish will improve much faster if there’s no one around to speak English with.”
It was also reassuring to her parents that Lily is participating in an organized program, and that she’ll have a network of AFS counselors and teachers to support her with any academic or social issues she might encounter.
Lily’s interest in foreign cultures was developed early on as the Stowell family has always hosted international visitors and have colleagues and friends who are multi-lingual. For Lily, language learning is fun and she knows that the best way to gain fluency is to live where the language is spoken. During the summer of her sophomore year, she chose to attend a camp in Leipzig, run by the Goethe Institut, where she studied German language and played soccer.
The WHS German exchange in 2007/08 worked out so well, that her family invited their exchange student, Janina Mueller, to return for a semester at Wellesley High School. Both of Lily’s parents and sister have spent semesters abroad, so the family was nothing but supportive when she first brought up the idea of studying in Panama for a year.
“Gap years”, referring to the gap between high school and college, are really much more than just a break after high school. They are a stepping stone, and with the added perspective can make the college years much more rewarding. Today, many students decide to defer college for a year to study or travel abroad.
“Colleges are generally quite open to the idea of gap years,” Wellesley High School guidance counselor James Ash said. “They recognize and appreciate the higher level of maturity, open mindedness, and language skills the students gain from this type of experience.”
Lily is happy to have received acceptance letters from several colleges, including Wellesley College. “It’s great to have a place to come back to next year,” she said, “but first it’s time to learn about the world outside my own backyard.”
AFS is still looking for host families in Wellesley who might be interested in hosting an international student for the coming academic year. Please contact the local AFS chapter, Astrid Lamparter-Nowak at 781-235-6474 or visit www.afsusa.org for further information.
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