Summer Break Is No Vacation

Our rooms at home are a mess. Half-opened suitcases hide crumpled piles of winter sweaters, and used textbooks litter our bedroom floors. Boxes of notebooks, muddy sneakers and the beloved mini-fridge are stacked 5 feet high at the foot of the bed. Exam booklets with anything less than a C are discreetly stuffed in the wastebasket.

It is finally summer and we’ve moved back in with mom and dad.

We’ve sworn to our parents that our dorm room at college is most certainly not this messy. It’s funny how our goals can change so much in just one year.

Last summer, we were carefree, looking ahead only so much as to focus on which college we would give our right arm to attend and where all of our classmates were applying.

Our aspirations were limited to the scope of that faraway university experience when we’d be living on our own, away from the comfort of our familiar friends since childhood.

Now, our first summer back, we’ve begun to center on the larger aspect of things: our careers, our futures, our lives. And this summer, we’ve begun to take advantage of our experiences.

As a college student, it is practically impossible to have an unproductive and lazy summer. Our sense of duty to our families and ourselves overpowers the laziness and unproductive attitude that lurks within us.

Of course, we’d love to sit around and watch Ricki Lake all morning or sleep in, but we know there is so much to be done. Summer is the most valuable time for practice and knowledge.

We’re free to seek out internships, to travel overseas, to take enrichment classes and fulfill requirements, or work to pay off college tuitions and loans. Some of us do one of those things; some of us dabble in all of them.

For those of us doing internships, we’ve gotten our first taste of the real world and a possible outlook on what our future might hold.

Every morning, we’re awake with the rest of the working class, driving our cars to the corporate office next to men in suits drinking coffee and women attempting to apply lipstick in their rearview mirror. In our skirts and slacks, we appear to be career-oriented as well. At noon, we take our lunch breaks with everyone else at the office. At five, we head home with the rest of everyday traffic and do it all over again the next day.

Our outlook is positive and we cherish every task we’re given by our internship supervisors. We’ve established trust with them and are in the midst of proving our capabilities and our diligence.

Perhaps in three years, we hope the firm might consider us for a job opening right out of college.

Many students attend local universities or remain at school to take summer classes in order to finally attend that television media class that fills up within days of registration. Some want to be able to graduate within three years in order to save money or establish a career path a year earlier.

Either way, our discipline reaches beyond the September-through-May school year. Our learning is a never-ending process and we intend to possess that attitude throughout our lives.

Traveling to foreign countries as an exchange student or just with our families and friends allows some of us to gain an experience not offered in the United States.

Working full time to pay college tuition or to have some spending cash over the summer is the way many students focus their energy. The majority of sales clerks and stock people in the mall are ages 16 to 24.

Unfortunately, our status as college students limits the types of jobs we can apply for. Our positions are temporary and since we have no degree, we must fold clothes, wait on tables, and apply at temporary employment agencies.

No summer job is shameful, however.

Students must do what they can with the resources they have in order to fill bank accounts without the aid of mom and dad. Already in just one year, we have matured and are self-sufficient, no longer needing or wanting money from our parents.

The neighborhoods are alive again with the sound of students home from college. Our noise is quiet. We are steady as we experiment with careers and lives we someday hope to lead.