Grace Guard was overwhelmed and confused when she graduated from Northwood High School last spring.
She didn’t know what she wanted to do and college deadlines rushed by. Thankfully, Guard said, a family member alerted her to the Map the Gap pilot program at IUSB aimed at young people just like her who were taking gap years but still felt lost.
Guard was one of 10 people who took part in the program, where participants receive job shadowing and mentoring from people in the local business community. Participants, who are dubbed Gappers, make a career plan and ideally come out knowing what concrete steps to take in the immediate future to achieve their professional goals.
“Making that first decision right out of high school is just a lot," said Sheila Sieradzki, IUSB's director of Elkhart Community Partnerships. "This gives them the time to really think through it, learn more about themselves, grow and get some professional experience under their belt. And they’re way more confident to make the next decision.
Sieradzki said she got the idea for the program after meeting with some local business owners who said their children were graduating high school but were unsure about their next steps.
After shadowing a wide range of jobs — from manufacturing to nursing to dry cleaning — and meetings with her mentor over the course of nine months, Guard is confident to go into occupational or mental health therapy.
“The biggest thing [my mentor] helped me with is accountability and getting things done,” Guard said. “When you’re out of high school you’re in such an unstructured environment it’s very sudden so that little personal connection helps you figure out how to hold yourself accountable.”
Guard and her cohort will finish their program in the next few weeks and based on the success of its pilot, Map the Gap is now expanding to 30 slots starting this fall Applications are due June 15 and the program is free.
