Gap Year and Extensions

^{Podcasting offers students a fun, interdisciplinary, hands-on way to apply what they’ve learned through their research and creating something that can be easily shared and understood by a student’s peers and wider community. Students can translate their research into podcasts in several ways: narrating the secret history of an important event, presenting a series of stories surrounding the student’s research theme, interviewing scholars whose work was at the heart of a student’s paper, or hosting chats or panel discussions with professionals whose work involves a student’s research subject. Creating and producing podcasts speak to a student’s ability to commit to one theme beyond the simple confines of a paper with a due date, demonstrating their passion for a topic and their ability to learn new skills like sound engineering, complex storytelling, graphic design, and planning a complex, multi-faceted project. Podcast competitions like those hosted by NPR, the New York Times, and various universities offer added visibility for particularly thought-provoking student-created podcasts.}

^{Publication is a challenging goal for high school student researchers. Horizon Academic’s Core Program is structured to support students in creating a research manuscript, and we’re proud to say that many of our students have had their papers accepted for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. Some students choose to do this work independently after they create a research manuscript, but some students benefit from added guidance from their research mentors. Our publication extension aims to assist students in editing, improving, and transforming their initial research manuscript into a paper with a higher likelihood of acceptance for publication. We do so by advising them on how they can add new layers of sophistication to their papers, better connect their research with the prominent papers and theory surrounding their research question, refine their arguments to be more precise, and, when applicable, add novel empirical data analysis to their argument. At Horizon Academic, we strongly believe that research is an inherently valuable process for high school students, but we also recognize that some students view the creation of a research manuscript as the first step in a longer process of understanding the peer review and publication process. For these students, we’re pleased to offer the publication extension as an added layer of support and structure. We have structured our publication extension program to improve their likelihood of acceptance in a peer-reviewed journal, but students and families should bear in mind that publication cannot be ethically guaranteed.}