Groundbreaking New Gap Year Program Launched and Offered by Winterline Global Skills Program

CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwired - Aug 18, 2015) - Winterline Global Skills Program today formally launched a new skills-based gap year program beginning in the Fall of 2015, that will take place over nine months, 10 countries across three continents. This first of its kind program was created by Boston entrepreneur Jeet Singh, after recognizing the need for today's high school graduates to become successful global citizens while gaining critical life skills.

In 2000, Singh established the Winterline Foundation, a non-profit organization with a mission to promote the education of "global citizens." The Winterline Global Skills Program is now an extension of the work carried out by the Foundation and its team.

Over the course of the Winterline gap year program, students will gain leadership, critical thinking, cultural awareness, and communication skills. Students will learn how to build a house, cook a meal, manage their finances, sail a boat, speak in public, care for the young and the elderly, start a business, serve a customer, drive a car safely, negotiate a deal, along with countless other practical skills they'll need to thrive as adults.

"Gap year programs can transform a student and many find that taking one helps them make smarter decisions about their future career paths," offered Winterline President & Executive Director Nathan Kumar Scott. "Our program not only introduces young adults to the world, it also teaches them the skills they will need to succeed as global employees. Since the skills gap is expected to result in an 85 million global shortage of high- and middle-skilled workers by 2020, we feel that teaching real-life and workplace skills is crucial." 

To ensure the best possible experience for students, Winterline Global Skills Program has partnered with established world-class organizations to deliver the experiences that make the program so unique. Initial partners include: The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Outward Bound, The Sea Turtle Conservancy (STRI) for conservation skills, The Comprehensive Rural Health Project for medical skills; BMW Driving School; United World College; Whistling Woods International Institute for Film, Fashion, Communication and Media Arts; and Yestermorrow Design/Build School.

According to research reported by The American Gap Association (http://www.americangap.org/data-benefits.php), the top two influences when deciding to take a gap year were to gain life experiences through personal growth, and to experience other cultures through travel. The research also showed that students who took a gap year actually did better than their predicted academic performance during all four years of college.

One of the initial Winterline program participants offered, "This program is truly the opportunity of a lifetime. I only researched four other programs; Winterline was my top choice. The selling point was the number of different countries I'd be traveling to and its focus on real-life skill building."

Well established in the UK and Europe, gap years are quickly gaining popularity in the US. In fact, some of the nation's most competitive colleges -- Dartmouth, Harvard, Middlebury, Princeton and Tufts, among others -- have adopted formal policies that allow students to defer admission so they may participate in a gap year before freshman year.

About Winterline Global Skills Program
Winterline Global Skills Program is a first-of-its-kind gap year program designed to offer experiential skills-based learning. It is committed to preparing young adults for the 21^st century by providing them with the opportunity to learn real-world skills while exploring the world in small groups. This unique and innovative nine-month program offers high-school graduates and young adults the opportunity to determine what they really want to do with their lives, by taking the time to discover a wide variety of interests and skills. Find out more at winterline.com.