While her friends are sitting in college classrooms this fall, Jennifer Hicks will be in a classroom in Cambodia, working with orphans as a volunteer with a relief agency.

Jennifer is taking a gap year between graduating from Augusta Preparatory Day School and attending college at the University of Georgia.

She's volunteering through United Planet, an international nonprofit. She also will serve in Tanzania.

She'll leave for Cambodia on Sept. 7.

"I've never been exposed to Asian culture," she said.

On Dec. 7, she'll return home, much like a winter break she would get from school, then leave Jan. 15 for volunteer work in Tanzania.

She'll return to the United States on June 1 so she can start her freshman year of college.

She is considering course-work in a medical field.

She'd also like to join the Peace Corps "and have something more than just enthusiasm to offer them," she said.

"I feel like I've seen the same thing every day for 18 years," Jennifer said. "I'm looking for culture shock."

Jennifer loves helping others. She recently returned from Mobile, Ala., where she helped build a house with Habitat for Humanity.

"I just want to be a part of a big movement to help others," she said.

A gap year makes sense to Jennifer. She's in no rush to get to college right after high school, and she thinks the time helping others will be well spent. Plus, this is a time in her life when she has few responsibilities.

"I feel like this is a good time to go," Jennifer said.

Jennifer, who attends the Unitarian Universalist Church on Walton Way Extension in Augusta, says the experience will also help her learn more about herself.

"I'm also going over there to widen my religious views," she said. "I'm looking to teach while learning."

Reach Sarah Day Owen at (706) 823-3223 or sarah.owen@augustachronicle.com.