The University is back to work after the long Memorial Day weekend, and today begins the first session of Summer School.  There are two sessions each summer:  Summer I runs May 29-July 3, and Summer II runs from July 9-August 11.  They cover the same material as a 15 week semester, but in a compressed fashion.  It’s intense, but it has some tremendous benefits.

For example, if your student has a subject he or she is struggling with, summer school is an ideal time to tackle it. The student can focus just on that one class, without the distractions of friends and the social life of the normal semesters, and get through it.  Make that class the student’s only ‘job’ and let it be the sole focus, and the chances of succeeding in it can be greater.

Summer school is also a good option for students who want to change the pace of their scholarship.  It could be that they want to double major but feel it is too much to tackle in the traditional 8-semester tenure.  It could be that they want to go a little bit slower – feeling they want to take maybe 4 classes every semester instead of the typical 5, and make the other one up in summer school.  Each student will define their path differently.

In its own weird way, summer school can also be fun for the students.  It can be a bonding time, as the classes are typically longer in length and meet more frequently during the week.  Students can connect via that shared experience.  It’s also interesting to experience the campus when the regular semester is not in session – see what goes on during the summer.  Most students never get the chance to see the flurry of building projects and renovations that happen over the summer, never feel the heat of  July, never see the tons of summer campers (both kids and adults alike) who use the campus for conferences.  We’ll get debaters, and cheerleaders, and soccer players, opera singers, writers and more.   Summer school is the chance to peek at university life behind the curtain.

If your student has not registered for the Summer II session but wants to, here’s their web site for more information.  And if not this year, tuck the idea away for a future summer.  It might be a great option for your Deac.

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