Now that we are in the second (or third, depending on where you live) week of self-quarantine and social distancing, people are starting to settle into the idea that things aren’t just going to go back to normal tomorrow. We’re looking at weeks, if not months, of things not being normal. In much of America, it is unlikely that students will go back to school until it starts back up again in the fall. A foreseeable side effect of these massive shifts to our usually predictable calendar is a similar re-scheduling frenzy around summer programs. The summer programs that are most likely to be canceled are those on high school and college campuses.
Why academic programs, you ask? Summer programs on campuses will be the first to get the boot because the people who are typically planning and preparing for them right now aren’t able to do so. They also often rely on employing students as staff. Without students on campus, summer program organizers have lost their most reliable (and affordable) employee pool. Even if everything gets better more quickly than we expect, they still won’t have the staff necessary on-hand to run the programs high school students around the country have signed up for — and are counting on to fill their summer months with application-boosting activities.
While we haven’t heard of any summer programs being officially canceled as of yet (email us if you have!), we have heard of many that are preparing for just that situation. And if summer programs are considering full-out cancellation — at least of their early-summer sessions — the students who are signed up for them need to start activating their back-up plan.
Our summer back-up plan is that summer starts now. Literally, now. Yes, you still have schoolwork to do. No, you can’t sleep in every day. But we are advising all of our clients that summer starts right now.
What do we mean by this? We mean that you need to start structuring your time, furthering a passion or two, and investing your energy into growing creatively as if this were the most productive summer of your life. Start by asking yourself what you are (or were) most excited for this summer, and how you can pursue those things without having to be in a particular place or enrolled in a specific program. If you were looking forward to diving into the world of political science, there are online courses that can make that possible from nearly anywhere. If you were excited to use the time to polish your painting portfolio, the time has magically appeared, so start now!
We came up with some of our own ideas for high school students, and we hope they will spark your imagination and lead you on your own unique journey. Check out our 15 Application-Boosting Activities for High School Students and our 6 Things To Do for High School Sophomores and Juniors for inspiration before launching your unexpectedly early summer!
If you feel like you are floundering in all of the uncertainty, send us an email. We help students succeed, especially when they are dealing with the unexpected.