Finally—it’s summertime!
How are you spending it?
If you’ve watched our webinar recording, Using the Summer Wisely, you’ll know that one of our main takeaways is that we want students to do something (anything!) productive with their summer.
Why? 3 reasons:
Summer is an extended period of time when students are largely responsible for themselves. Because there’s no school, no one is telling students when to wake up in the morning, where to go, and what to do. So what are students doing when their time is their own?
A lot of personal growth happens over the summer—physically, mentally, and emotionally!
Summers can be a part of the college application process. Summer activities are included in the Common App activity list, and students may be asked to write supplemental essays about summer experiences.
We don’t think every minute of the summer needs to be planned out. There’s plenty of time to relax by the pool (please wear sunscreen) and hang out with friends. After the last year, students have definitely earned some time to recharge their batteries!
But I would encourage all high school students to set some goals for the summer and think about what they might want to accomplish by the time fall rolls around again. If you aren’t sure where to start, here are some ideas to get you started:
Get a job
Summer jobs can be a great experience for high school students. Regardless of what the job is, a part time job teaches you a lot about independence and work ethic, and it gives you new responsibilities you may not have had before.
Not only are you earning a paycheck and learning how to manage money, but you’re responsible to someone who isn’t a parent or teacher, you have to balance your own schedule, and you may be interacting with coworkers or customers who are outside of your peer set.
Pro Tip: Getting a summer job is a great plan, but jobs aren’t always easy to find. So have a back up plan to fill your time. You don’t want to get to August and realize the only thing you did all summer was look for a job.
Learn Something
I know. It’s summer.
But hear me out. You can define this however you want to.
This can look like traditional classroom learning. Maybe you want to take a class at a local community college because it isn’t offered at your high school or you couldn’t fit it into your schedule. Maybe online/hybrid learning wasn’t for you, and you want to be prepared before you jump back into the classroom in the fall.
Maybe one of the online classes I wrote about last year is more your speed. You can learn to code, to edit photos and videos, or how to do digital painting.
But “learn something” can also look like robotics camp or marine biology camp. Or finally taking guitar lessons because the teacher is offering them in-person again. Or sewing classes if you have an interest in fashion design.
It can look like going down an economics rabbit hole and listening to as many episodes of the Freakonomics Radio podcast as you can. Or asking your local librarian to help you put together a reading list on a subject you want to know more about.
Figure out what it is you want to learn about and how you want to learn. This isn’t school, right? You make the rules.
Volunteer
As someone who used to be a volunteer coordinator, I can tell you that the first volunteer day to fill up is almost always Saturday.
For most of the year, students are usually limited to volunteering on the weekends or an hour here and there after school. But summer opens up so many more opportunities to get involved in the community in meaningful, consistent ways!
Once again, choose something that’s important to you or that you enjoy doing. For example, if you like being outdoors or you like playing with children, look for opportunities that let you do those things. But if you don’t enjoy those activities, there are countless ways to volunteer!
Our friends at Activate Good keep a running list of volunteer opportunities in the Triangle, and you can check out this blog post for other ideas.
Prepare for college
Summer is also a great time to start thinking about life after high school! College planning is an ongoing process, and I could write a separate blog post on what each grade level should be considering over the summer, but this advice is for rising seniors.
Start on your college applications.
The Common App doesn’t officially open until August 1st, but you can start working on several of the sections right now. The Common App essay topics have already been announced, and you can work on the personal information section as well as the Activity List.
Even if you don’t have your college list finalized yet, there is so much you can do now to give yourself a head start in the fall.
Our students may not love that we spend the summer on essay drafts, but every fall—without fail—they can’t wait to tell me how miserable their friends are to be just starting their essays in October (on top of midterms) when they’ve been finished for months!