Aditi Kankanwadi

Summer program group bonding at Disneyland :D

I remember how in elementary school, I would spend my summers on long vacations with my family, traveling everywhere from Hawaii to Taiwan. Those blissful days largely went away once I entered high school, and I felt pressured to fill my summers with academics and volunteering.

Sometimes, all I want is a chance to spend a whole day drawing and reading a new book without worrying about the math homework due the next day (during summer, might I add). Students here tend to have a mindset where they need to get ahead of the game and be more knowledgeable than everyone else when school starts. While yes, getting a head start on next year’s math can be beneficial, I often feel suffocated when I go from an morning SAT prep class to afternoon badminton and finally a math class in the evening. The worst part is, even if you decide to have a “free” summer, you feel pressured from those around you to cram your schedule full.

Though we are teenagers, we are still kids. We can’t be doing all of these activities with the intention of boosting our futures if we don’t  enjoy them.

I think the one exception from summer stress is a summer program where you are doing something that you truly have passion in. As long as it’s something you enjoy, you can have a summer that is both productive and fun.

This summer, I went to CSSSA, a summer program at California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita, and I can honestly say it was the best time of my life. I met so many amazing people there and made amazing connections. Being around people who shared the same interests as me made it feel like a close-knit community.

While the writing skills I learned there were incredibly valuable, the one thing I’ll remember the most is the amazing people I met.

Summer programs also give students a chance to experience living in college dorms and being independent. However, the cost of summer programs is something that needs to be taken into account, as typically they are a few thousand dollars. But if it’s possible for someone to go to a summer program, I would tell them to go for it, because it’s an opportunity with countless benefits.

And even if your summer is just filled with classes and internships, I think everyone should take a few days off to do something they enjoy, such as going outside or meeting up with friends. Or maybe, just stay home alone and read a good book or work on a passion project, because once school starts, you most likely won’t have nearly as much time for that.

Generally, I think that it’s OK if we don’t spend the summer trying to stuff more math equations and chemistry formulas in our head. That’s what regular school is for. And even if you end up at an academic summer program, your most valuable lessons might actually involve all the new and interesting people you meet. That’s summer at its best.