Sharpay Evans from Disney’s High School Musical describes summer as, “an education vacation” but as a student at AHS I find trouble completely agreeing with Sharpay, because our schoolwork does a fantastic job of entwining itself in our vacation.

Movies depict summer as a time to relax and be adventurous with your friends; however adventures and relaxation have recently taken the back seat to summer work. I understand the importance of summer work in order to retain knowledge and reinforce learning over the summer, but at AHS it seems excessive.

Summer is supposed to be a time for students to explore their passions and focus on their hobbies. Internships, jobs, college applications, and, in some cases, the extended essay are all procrastinated by students and dedicated for the summer. However, this summer I learned that it is extremely challenging to spend a summer pursuing an internship, working, volunteering, and trying to complete summer work.

Ten weeks sounds long and reassuring at the beginning of the summer. But eventually ten weeks turns into five and nightmares of starting school with incomplete summer work keeps kids up at night.

I can honestly say that I experienced some of these dreams, and my last month of summer was often spent stressing and overcoming waves of anxiety as I tried to finish my summer work.

Teachers tell students to do whatever they can in order to avoid finding themselves in my position, but it’s much easier said than done.

In June, after school gets out everyone needs a little break, but soon the calendar reads the first of July and it’s unlikely summer that assignment have been completed, or in some cases even started. Students are busy spending their summers doing things they enjoy, and they forget about the five books they have to read.

I can understand how doing math periodically over the summer and reviewing Spanish grammar is important. However, I feel that students would benefit just as much through doing four weeks of math instead of nine, and supplemental Spanish every few weeks.

For example, in IB English I was assigned to read the first eight chapters of the book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and reflect for at least 10 minutes, write a paragraph connecting the title to the stories told, and write an analytical paragraph for each chapter. I feel that I would be just as prepared for the school year if they only had to reflect on the chapter titles while reading, verses doing that and all the additional work.

I am an anticipated IB Diploma Candidate, so I understand the commitment I made to hard work and lots of it. But, what I didn’t understand that this commitment involving prioritizing school work year round. I was looking for a summer dedicated to the things I am passionate about, like writing for a magazine. Instead, I spent any free time working on my school assignments.

There are benefits to keeping in touch with schoolwork over the summer. However, AHS should encourage students to focus on their interests, activities, jobs and experiences during the summer, rather than stress over the work they have to complete for the first day back at school – in my “lazy days of summer” opinion.