Every year, students across the country count down to the last bell — lockers cleared, exams done, and summer begins. After a whole year of school, relaxation and no homework are finally here.
For me, the break that began this past June at the end of my junior year in high school was a welcome reprieve. It is well known that 11th grade is filled with relentless SAT studying, a heavy academic workload, and the quintessential “start thinking about college” focus. While some may believe that people my age waste summers with never-ending scrolling on our phones, summer means so much more to each one of us.
For me, having a break means time to focus on myself and my well-being while also enjoying life with family and friends. However, as a low-income immigrant student, I experience it as increased stress about college applications and lots of “fomo” (fear of missing out), watching friends and influencers on social media live their dream vacation in every corner of the planet.
More and more, it feels like the way that high schoolers use summer break represents so much more than our own priorities. In today’s world, our backgrounds inform whether we are given the privilege to relax. For some students, summer is the time for cruises and beach walks. For others, where attending college and receiving aid is a must, summers are spent grinding to make our dreams and the dreams of our families come true. Still others experience summer as more work shifts to contribute to family income.
High school junior Nuna Adovor from Atlanta, Georgia, relays her struggles with her summer experience so far. “I work from 7:45am to 6pm every day, which definitely leaves me fatigued and not wanting to do much after I get home. That aspect of my summer has taken a toll on my mental health and has led me to compare how I spend my time to those in my friend group,” she says.
For students at competitive schools, summer can feel like one more race. “Since I’m from a highly competitive high school,” says high schooler Audrey Li from Houston, Texas, “there is the constant comparison among peers, which, in my opinion, fosters an unhealthy academic and social environment. As a result, I have observed that my self-esteem has slowly eroded throughout the school year, and I often feel burnt out at the end of the year.”
As someone who gains energy from gathering my thoughts and spending time with myself, I appreciate that summer gives me a break from constant social interaction, flexibility in my schedule, a time to disconnect from social media, and the ability to choose how to allocate my energy.
However, for some students, who value the daily structure and connectivity that eight hours a day in school offers them, no school can also mean a feeling of isolation and a desire for events that strengthen bonds and communities.
“I do think that having more community events organized by the school would allow students to have a more enjoyable summer,” says Li. “For example, schools could organize optional volunteering events, car washes, and workshops to not only foster school spirit but also positively impact the community.”
The conversation around how students spend their summer breaks also brings up the question of the length of summer breaks and whether schools across the country are doing enough to prioritize student mental health throughout the year. My summer break in southern Texas traditionally runs from the second week of June to the end of July. While six weeks isn’t a short amount of time, it always feels like it ends right when I need it the most. I feel that a couple of extra weeks would allow me to enjoy summer and have enough time to prepare for the new year.
“It is a great length! It allows us to have some time to ourselves while not being too bored and feeling like the time is dragging out,” says Adovor about her three-month long summer break from school in Atlanta, Georgia.
Especially at a time when school means extracurriculars and so much more than the regular classes, a longer summer break is something I will always advocate for. It would allow students to be ready for the new year and create value in mental well-being, while also being equitable and understanding of students who come from low socio-economic backgrounds.
The months from June to August are shaped by so many different factors that it’s important to recognize that no summer “experience” is better than another. However students choose to spend their breaks, those choices have value, even if it doesn’t seem luxurious. To students, I say: let’s give ourselves grace and stop comparing our breaks and how “constructive” our experiences are.
Photo by Steven Aguilar on Unsplash, licensed under CC 2.0.
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