Gap Year
Write Your Next Chapter
Join Act Five’s 8 month Christian gap year program where adventure, travel, service, learning and mentorship await!
Our Gap Year Program
The 8 month program is designed to give you the space, experiences, and relationships to grow deep roots in faith and life. Through community living, adventure, learning, and service, you will be equipped to live faithfully wherever you are headed next—whether that’s putting down roots in new schools, the workplace, church communities or elsewhere.
Is Act Five Right for Me?
We believe this could be the perfect next step for you!
Your Year at
Act Five
Explore a month-by-month sketch of your journey at Act Five.
Financial Aid Calculator
Use our financial aid calculator to see what’s possible.
Reach Out
We’d love to connect and help you explore your next steps.
What To Expect From Your Gap Year
Our Gap Year Program is more than a break from school—it’s a life-shaping experience designed to help you grow in faith, build deep friendships, and discover your next steps. Over 8 months, you’ll step away from the rush of life and into intentional community, hands-on learning, adventure, and service.
Live in Community & Grow in Faith
Share life with others in a Christian community home. Participate in rhythms of meals, worship, rest, and work. Grow in wisdom through deep conversations, shared challenges, and intentional mentorship.
Experience Adventure, Travel & Service
Embark on life-giving adventures like canoeing in Northern Ontario, winter camping, and backpacking, while discovering God in creation. Serve in local organizations and travel cross-culturally, loving your neighbours and engaging with the world.
Prepare for Your Future
Slow down and listen—to God, to others, and to yourself. Through an 8-week vocational placement, explore your gifts and passions, gaining clarity and confidence for whatever comes next.
Testimonials
University Level Courses
Our Gap Year Program includes university-level courses that combine hands-on learning with connections to faith and skill development. You earn transferable credits while exploring faith, culture and creation. All of our courses are accessible to diverse learning styles, ensuring you can engage meaningfully, no matter how you learn.
Academic Highlights
The Six Acts: Biblical Foundations
A full-year course that explores the Bible as one continuous story, helping students understand God’s character and their place in His unfolding plan.
Place, Home & Land
An immersive fall course that examines themes of social justice, dislocation, and belonging through real-world experiences in urban and rural settings.
Wilderness Leadership Education
An experiential learning course beginning in Temagami, where students engage with creation, reflect on leadership, sustainability, and faith while immersed in the wilderness.
Christian Vocation & Discernment
— Field Placement
A winter course that includes a field placement underpinned by rigorous vocational exploration, coaching and preparation for future pathways.
Introduction to Spiritual Disciplines
A full-year course that introduces spiritual disciplines from diverse streams of Christianity to shape students’ imagination and formation.
Your Gap Year At Act Five
While living together in a large community home, students and Resident Leaders will practice regular rhythms of meals, chores, recreation, adventure, study, mentorship, prayer and worship. The following gives you an overview of Act Five’s 8 month program.
Year At A Glance
Term 1:
September
October
November
December
Move in to Blake St
Learning at Russet House & Temagami Canoe Trip
Settling into Hamilton Life
Thanksgiving Break
Living, Learning & Serving in and around Hamilton
Manitoulin Island
Term Wrap-Up
Amazing Race & Retreat
Christmas Break
Term 2:
January
February
March
April
Field Placements in Hamilton
Winter Camping
Field Placements in Hamilton
Service Learning in Southern US or El Salvador
Term Wrap-Up
Backpacking Trip
Celebration Week
Grad & Move Out
Join the Journey
Slow down and make space to find real answers you can put into practice.
It’s not just big ideas that form us. It’s what we do, who we spend time with, the places we hang out, and the habits we form. Act Five is about preparing for your future while growing as a disciple of Jesus right now.
