Having a Productive Summer

For me, summer vacation can sound really good when I'm still in school. I smile at the idea of being stress-free and doing absolutely nothing. Yet, every year when summer comes, I can’t help but having a feeling of emptiness. I go from having something to do every minute of my day, to having hours and hours of spare time, and to me, I feel like I’m somehow wasting this time. This is why during the summer, I still like to do school-related things so that I can have a productive summer and make use of my spare time. Declutter old schoolwork First and foremost, I like to organize all my schoolwork from the finished year; this includes lecture notes, study notes, midterms, cue cards, and more. I compile everything according to the course, and then from there, I decide which things to keep, and which to throw away. Generally, I just keep my study notes, cue cards, and midterms to avoid large piles.

I also clean out my backpack by throwing out loose pieces of paper and making sure my pencil case only has working pens and pencils (which are always scarce). This also helps me see what I school supplies I’ll need to buy for the upcoming year. Research My favourite thing to do during the summer is to do a lot of research! I browse the course listings to see what kinds of classes sound interesting to me that I could take as elective courses. There’s a lot of options… so this can take up a lot of time. I also like to search for scholarships that are available. I try to avoid limiting myself to just scholarships provided by U of T. Instead, I search for all kinds of scholarships from other organizations. This (along with the application process) also takes up a lot of my time. Get a school-related job Since summer vacation is so long, even doing all the previous activities aren’t enough to keep me busy everyday. As a result, I applied for a school-related job so that I can continue to feel productive. Fortunately, I was able to get this job as a U of T student life blogger, and I absolutely love it! J

There are other jobs or volunteer positions that the school provides, such as research or lab assistants. The opportunities are endless, so I can’t wait to try working in different areas of the school in the future. There’s still over a month of summer vacation left for all students. Have a great and productive summer everyone!