Name: Abbey Martin
Age: 18
Hometown: Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
High School: Through high school, I attended a mixture of private, public, and technical schools, as well as being home schooled.
Name one interesting fact about you: I played the violin all through high school and was a part of a couple different orchestras/ensembles!
Why did you sign-up for Compass? I was completely unsure where my next step would be after graduating high school, but I knew I wanted to take my faith with me wherever I went. Community college seemed like the safest route for me, although I wasn’t really happy with the idea. In late May, I started looking into some gap year programs near me and stumbled upon the website for Compass. Without really thinking about it, I applied. After interviewing over Skype with Dave Lescalleet, I knew that Compass was exactly what I needed. And that’s how I moved from a small town in Pennsylvania to Livingston, Texas. If it hadn’t been for the fact that I knew God was directing every step of the way, I know I would have felt a lot more hesitant to drop everything and move to a place I had never been. Truth is, God is the same in Pennsylvania as He is in Texas.
This time next year what do you want to say about your Gap Year Experience?My hope is that by this time next year, Gap Year will have made me a more confident and God-directed person than I ever was before. Pursuing success through a college degree or career opportunity is not wrong, but I think the amazing thing about Gap Year is that it’s teaching me to pursue God first — and allow all of those other things to come second.
What would you say to someone who was thinking about taking a Gap Year?I would recommend taking a Gap Year to anyone, at any stage in life. There’s honestly never a point in time when you are too old or too experienced to stop and allow for a little redirection. So, go for it!
