Sky Prensky: japan

Following graduation, rather than going straight into a college, Sky Prensky plans to travel the world, visiting Greece, Italy, Canada, and Mexico, with a main focus in Japan.

Unlike most high schoolers, Prensky chose to not apply to any colleges this year and instead is focusing on gaining new perspectives through work experience and traveling during his gap year. “I decided to take a gap year because I didn’t really want to rush myself into the whole big college process,” he said. “I’m going to take this year off doing a bunch of traveling, as well as getting work experience, and then hopefully I’ll be off to college.” While Prensky has generally received support, due to how unconventional taking a gap year is, he has heard some criticisms. However, Prensky takes the comments as feedback for himself. “I always want to learn more about why they think it’s a bad idea, and what I should be watching out for,” he said. “I always want to take it as a learning experience, so I always listen to them.”

Prensky’s main destination is Japan due to the fact that he is half-Japanese but he also feels as though traveling provides a new perspective, and Japan has a different culture from the U.S. “When you grow up in the U.S., you’re instilled with the mindset that the U.S. is the best place ever,” he said. “But there are a lot of other places that are also making big advancements in the world that you might not know of, (and) I think Japan is one of those places that is really getting up there.”

—Written by Lita Sone