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May 3, 2007

Loving Summer?

While some relish the summer break, others don’t find time to break at all

Story by: Anthony Williams

The Shorthorn Scene editor

Click to enlarge

The Shorthorn: John Henderson

Are you excited — really excited?

We may get out weeks earlier and have lots more freedom than elementary and high school students, but something’s different about summer vacation for college students.

Does it even exist anymore?

More and more college students find themselves relaxing less between spring and fall semesters these days. With tuition always steadily increasing, many either work part-time or full-time. And with the craving for a degree likely passing, summer school begins to look more appetizing than ever. Even if a student’s lucky enough to earn an internship, they sometimes find themselves more exhausted there than at school.

Mechanical engineering junior Ben Witherspoon is still hoping to participate in a co-op this summer, and he considers summer breaks pretty much dead to him.

“I may go to the beach for a while or just hang out, but not for long,” he said. “The past two summers though, I’ve had classes. I’ve been in school nonstop.”

What’s the problem with that? We are technically adults now, so should we even expect to rest and relax on such a grand scale anymore?

“I don’t like breaks, and summer is not one for me,” civil engineering junior Sheena Jackson said. “I don’t really visit people, I do the same stuff I do the rest of the year.”

Other students said the summer months are still prime real estate on their schedules.

“I still see it as a break,” architecture freshman Alfredo Rodriguez said. “It’s short, but it still counts.”

Rodriguez said he will be working part-time but won’t take any classes. Nursing sophomore Tamara Goodwin said she is taking classes at Tarrant County College and working several jobs, including modeling and acting, but she still plans on traveling.

“I’ll probably try to go to Corpus Christi, maybe go to Belize,” she said.

Goodwin said she will work public relations for a new basketball league, but she also plans to make time for fun and says it’s not that hard.

“Depending on the workload, you can still do something,” she said. “Even though I’ll be taking classes, it’s still different from having 16 hours during the year.”