According to the mass majority of adults, college is the time of your life, but high school is just as fun, and without the added responsibility. With that in mind, there are six great ways high school students can make the most out of this coming summer, without losing all the fun of being a high school student. College students tend to deal with lots of financial difficulties or circumstances that can become stressful. Having to learn how to do laundry, cook, clean, or manage time accordingly can grate the brain. Taking time during the summer for both play and preparation will ease your mind as you head into college.
1. Work a Part-Time Job
This may seem like a way to ruin a summer, but part time work doesn’t have to take up more than a few hours each day. Working a simple twenty hours a week will allow for a small but suitable income that can be saved for the future. A job also improves any resume by showing that while other kids were becoming couch potatoes, you worked instead. Talk about ambition!
2. Attend a Camp out of Your Comfort Zone
Summer camps, sport camps, any and all kinds of camps. There are at least half-a-dozen different camps open every summer for at least a week or two. Attending a camp may seem like child’s play, or boring when you could do something else, but there are excellent personal skills one can learn from attending. Plus, new experiences broaden horizons and make other things easier to adapt to in the future. After all, when you eventually reach your first evening at college, you’ll want to share the spontaneous experiences you had the past summer, instead of talking about those all-night marathons on Netflix.
3. Apply for Every Scholarship
Once again, college is more expensive than most students expect. There are student loans available for many, and parents can help with the expenses if they’re financially able. Yet, there are personal expenses that may not be considered when applying for loans. For one, at Texas A&M University, all on campus dining options close around 8 p.m. with a few exceptions lasting until 10 o’clock. This makes things hard for late night study sessions, so extra cash comes in handy just to go out to eat a few times or pick up some food if you’re ever in a rush to get somewhere.
4. Shop for the Future
This may seem contradictory to applying for scholarships and getting a job, but whether attending college in a few years or in a few months, some household items are more expensive than others and can add up very fast. For one, if a TV is desired for your future pad, they can easily cost anywhere from $150 to over $700, depending on where and when you shop for one. Printers, comforters, and kitchen items may not seem very expensive on their own, but if you’re buying them all at once, oftentimes people will settle for price instead of searching for quality. The coffee maker that lasts you four years through college will be your best friend, so choose well!
5. Take a Few Summer Classes
This might be rather redundant considering summer is a break from school, but taking courses over the summer will keep your mind agile, while making the coursework during the school year a little less rigorous. This will come in handy in college, as finishing off classes that you can’t take on during the fall or spring semester can even help you graduate early (and save some money in the process).
6. Work as a Counselor
This will present new opportunities, as well as resume builders. Counselors get to meet new people, help others, and (hopefully) spend much of the summer out in the sun. Sure, the kids may be a bit rambunctious, but when has that ever stopped you? After all, you’re a risk-taker, and you don’t want to spend your high school summer behind a counter. Spend it instead on a playground or by a lake and pocket some change while you’re at it.
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