2DO Before I Die

5 Best 'Gap Year' Projects

Make a difference while exploring the world with one of these top 'gap year' picks from the Guardian. Though still in the minority, more and more students in the US are choosing to take a year off in-between high school and university. It's much more prevalent practice in the UK and Europe - where it's seen as a healthy opportunity to explore and contribute to the world as a volunteer.

A friend of ours, and 2DO story contributor ('Sing with a pop star'), Ron Lieber even wrote a book about the benefits of 'Taking Time Off'. See the link below for the Guardian's top five choices - just out today (the photo to the left involves working with street children in Mombassa)...

Appetite for a fight

"We decided it was time to stop moaning and start acting," Jackie Schnieder says. A fight for a cause story in the UK's Guardian this week, mother of three Schneider, 44, "was a local mom who just wanted kids to have better school dinners. Now the 'accidental activist' is a national campaigning force."

Comments Schneider, "I think it is strange to be described as a revolutionary for expecting such a simple basic right as a decent school lunch for every child." She stops, thinks for a second, and then says: "Maverick I can live with, because unthinking conformity is dangerous. There is nothing wrong with challenging orthodoxies." Click here for her story.