This summer when students will be packing for college, senior Kiley Leff will instead be packing for South Africa.

“First semester I’m working at an orphanage for underprivileged youth. It’s an upliftment orphanage, which basically means that they center around making the kids as happy as they possibly can, so you take them on adventures,” says Kiley. “Then second semester I’m a little bit closer to Cape Town and I’m working at a baby lion, elephant and monkey rehabilitation center.”

She will attend college after this coming year, but loves community service and felt that she needed to give back before starting more schooling. While Kiley still has a few schools to choose from, she definitely knows what she wants to study in college.

“I know that I’m going to go into film, probably documentary film, and so this will help with that because I’ll be able to film on my gap year, which is going to be a really cool experience,” states Kiley.

Her trip is being arranged by an organization called African Impact, which focuses on providing travel plans for people who want to an uncommon and remarkable experience.

South Africa is a country completely unknown to many students, but that’s why Kiley wants to go there. “I thought that if I’m going to take a gap year, then why not just go all the way and do something completely out of your comfort zone,” she says.

“In South Africa, you really are just jumping into something by yourself, and I’ve never done anything just because I want to, so I’m excited to see how that turns out for me.”