A rundown of my Gap Year working at a Social Enterprise
After spending a quarter of my eleventh and the entirety of my twelfth grade online because of the pandemic, I found myself at a crossroads when my final exams got postponed and I had no idea what I wanted to do next. Wanting to keep all of my career options open, I had taken the maximum number of subjects possible. I hoped, eventually, I would be able to narrow down my options and decide where to go. Yet, on the verge of completing high school, I stood blank with an irritatingly wide range of choices and no sense of direction.
I wanted to explore my interests and see what different fields offered before committing my next four years to one. So, a year out of school and into the workforce sounded like the perfect plan. I was looking for opportunities that would let me learn more about Nepal and work with social media. It is when I came across the call for an Intern position from Educase on Instagram. I was intrigued; I remembered reading a book on ‘Social Entrepreneurship In India’ and being introduced to the concept of social businesses. I wanted to know how such businesses operated in Nepal and with the product Educase is, I knew I would love to be a part of the growing startup.
Carefully writing my answers and preparing a CV in the best template I could make, I took an entire Saturday to complete my application. I was thrilled to receive an invitation for an interview a few days later, and an email congratulating me the following week. It did not take me over a minute to send a reply and confirm that I was on board.
Almost 7 months later, my time at Educase has been everything I hoped for and more. As a social media intern, I only hoped to grow my design and analytical skills and become better at my trade. But being a part of a small startup — through weekly team meetings, getting to sit at mentorship calls along with the co-founders, and constantly being updated about the business — I was able to learn plenty about the ins and outs of a business. Not only did the experience help me solidify my decision to take a gap year, but also helped me slowly grow out of my comfort zone. As a timid teenager launching directly into a growing startup, I was scared. Often stressing about my designs and captions, I would stare at the screen impatiently waiting for a review of my work. But with a team that was constantly guiding me, slowly the anxiousness of knowing if I had done it the ‘proper way’ turned into wanting feedback that I could incorporate into my plans and make them better.
Along with this shift in perspective, researching content for preparing posts allowed me to dive deeper into the issues that I sincerely cared for. Spending days reading through tens of research papers and journals trying to find one specific data, I was able to get more out of the process than just what my role demanded. From learning about the conditions of out-of-school children to how the geography of Nepal influences education, I could finally see something that I would love to pursue academically.
Taking a gap year has been a lot more eventful than I had hoped it to be. With my roles at other organizations too, I was able to travel to places far inside Nepal, investigate the status of education, and observe problems in communities around me. Starting the year, my only focus was to find a subject that I would enjoy. But now, the experience has also allowed me to introspect on my own experiences and to better empathize with people around me. Without even realizing it, I began liberating myself from someone who barely uttered a few words to being confident enough to express my ideas and experiences. Now, 5 months after graduating from high school, I know that the decision to take a gap year has had the effect of a lifetime on me. The experiences I’ve gathered have made me more conscious of the decisions I make and brought learnings that make me feel much more prepared for the next chapters in my life.
If there is anything I could recommend to someone planning to take a gap year, it would be to be open to new ideas and grab all opportunities that sound even remotely interesting. Getting to plan a year entirely on yourself is going to be the most exciting thing ever, and even the tiniest step outside of your comfort zone will make the biggest difference
- Pragya Silwal, Social Media Intern at Educase
