Student Reflects On Gap Year Spent Immersed In Leadership Training
Nestled away in Pine Mountain, Georgia, rests the campus for the Impact 360 Institute, which offers a multitude of leadership opportunities including a nine month “gap year” program, where 63 high school graduates are immersed in leadership training.
According to Impact 360’s website, this training is achieved “through biblical worldview education, community-based discipleship, leadership coaching, vocational mentoring and missional opportunities, students are equipped to live as change-agents in the world.”
Upon first hearing about the Impact 360 gap year program as her senior year of high school approached, Bri Collado dismissed the possibility almost immediately. Collado recalled not even praying about it initially because she couldn’t imagine falling a year behind her friends or leaving the place she had lived her entire life.
Before Impact, Collado had a five-year plan. She wanted to attend Southeastern University in her home state of Florida and study organizational leadership.
The conversation ceased until the first day of Collado’s senior year when both her English teacher and guidance counselor suggested the program as a possibility. Collado knew she needed to consider it, and she officially began the application process.
One of the interview steps for the Impact program involved the students spending a weekend on the campus in order to experience a day in the life of an Impact student. Collado recalled being struck by the presence of the Holy Spirit while touring the campus and described clear guidance from the Lord that this is what he planned for her.
Collado graduated high school in May 2018. That fall, she began her Impact experience. Impact is non-traditional compared to other gap year programs because the students, called “fellows,” accumulate 18-credit hours over the two semesters.
The fellows take apologetics classes and have the opportunity to hear from guests and professors. Collado said this reshaped and strengthened her understanding of theology and God himself.
As the fellows read different books throughout their studies, the books’ authors were invited to speak to the students. Collado now has a different insight on some of the books she has read at Liberty University, since the authors themselves have answered specific questions she had.
At the core of the program is learning what it looks like to serve other people. The program took the fellows on a cultural immersion experience to Brazil for the month of January, providing a unique opportunity to understand other cultures and their perspectives.
The students selected a service project to focus on during their time in the program and served on a weekly basis. Collado tutored elementary students in a low-income Latin American community and said she found so much joy in the time she spent with those children.
The 63 fellows lived in a dorm on Impact’s campus. Collado remembered the tightly-knit community as one of the best aspects of the program.
“Impact is a small and intentional community. We learned a lot. We cried a lot together. We did worship together. We went to Brazil together,” Collado said.
Completing the Impact Fellowship gave Collado clarity and rewrote her five-year plan for the better.
“God helped me understand more of who I am and who he created me to be. I know for a fact I wouldn’t have ended up at Liberty, and I wouldn’t have majored in communications if I didn’t go to Impact because he showed me different passions and gifts I didn’t realize about myself,” Collado said.
Collado has found her passion for people and complete reliance on the Lord. She encouraged those who are seeking to control their own lives to trust that God has a plan far better than they could imagine.
“The Lord has taught me that he is my friend, and he is my home. No matter if I’m in Florida or Georgia or here, he is my security, and if he is with me, then that is all I need,” Collado said.
Vires is a feature reporter. Follow her on Twitter