German students get work experience in Cambria County during 'Gap year' after high school

Johnstown, Pa — While some students graduate high school and jump right into college - others take something called a 'gap year'.

6 News spoke with recent high school grads currently pursuing a gap year.

The students say they are aware taking a gap year is not very common in the U.S. but where they are from – its nothing out of the ordinary.

“I’m in Johnstown to do a gap year after high school,” said Daniel Schumacher, an intern at Highlands Health Clinic.

Lukas Tepper, another intern at the same clinic tells Channel 6, “We arrived or started our job placement around the same time last August, I think the last week of August and I will have ‘til June.”

Schumacher and Tepper are originally from Germany and are currently interning at Highlands Health Clinic during their gap year.

“It’s a service and adventure program," said Tepper. "Its ministry which sends young adults between eighteen and twenty to different locations to volunteer in different work placements.”

The men say besides Johnstown the program they are apart of also is available in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Colorado Springs and Jackson, Mississippi – just to name a few.

Schumacher says during his gap year he works online for Highlands Health.

“I create reels right now to get the word out to let people know what the clinic is doing, but before that I was creating policies and procedures working on documents and all that interesting stuff,” added Schumacher.

And Tepper says he works within Human Resources.

“I did some summer jobs back in Germany and it’s a completely different work environment here, working here, it’s a lot of fun and I learned a lot,’’ said Tepper.

Both Schumacher and Tepper will return home to Germany in June - once their internship wraps up – and they say they will bring a lot of things they learned from their time in Johnstown back home with them.

“From how to take care of patients, what are the values of it, I think that’s like the main thing I can use there," said Tepper. "And it was just super interesting having like a deep dive into how employment works here.”

The men say they will miss it here in Johnstown, especially the people and hope to visit again one day.

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