By Annette Aucamp

The key to a fun but productive summer can be found in a principle that is short but rings with truth: “Work hard, play hard.”

For students coming out of a long and stressful school year, summer is the perfect time to decompress. After dealing with months of worrying about GPA, test scores, college decisions, and extracurricular activities, having some time to focus on yourself is extremely rejuvenating. Going on vacation, meeting new people, and relaxing with your family are all things that can help make summer fun and feel like an escape from the world of education. 

Also, having fun over the summer can be refreshing and necessary to prevent exhaustion from school or work. Working yourself too hard for too long is sure to result in experiencing burnout. 

Although relaxing and letting off steam in the summer is important, it’s also important to see the summer for the opportunity that it is: time for you to build your resumé. Summer is unique because it’s the only time you get all year where you have time to do anything without having school in the mix. It can be easy to want to spend all of this time having fun but what will really benefit you in the long run is using this time to pad your resumé.

Summer internships, college courses, and summer jobs are all things that can be used to learn and gain experience in fields you are interested in and hoping to explore. For example, many universities have summer programs that students can attend in order to experience what it’s like to take classes and attend that school within a specific major. Even if that experience makes you realize that that major isn’t for you, regardless, you’re gaining insight into what you want to pursue and the careers that you are and aren’t interested in. Programs and internships like this also look great on resumés and activity lists when applying to jobs or colleges.

Additionally many college counselors assert that one of the most important criteria when considering to give a student admission to their college is seeing how they spend their summers. Asking a student, “How do you spend your summers?” is commonly used by college applications and interviewers to assess how productive a student is during their time off and to see if they use their free time constructively. 

Overall, having fun over the summer is as important to happiness as it is to gaining back your energy and returning to school or to work with newfound vigor and energy. At the same time, making sure there is room for work and for building your resumé will benefit you in the long run. “Work hard, play hard,” will ensure that your summer is as fun as it is productive.