The Not so Summer Blues (The Work Experience Elixer)

I have always considered July 4th as summer’s hump day; The summer days and nights seem to move at a much faster pace after this national holiday. And given that July 4th falls twenty days after the summer solstice summer days should feel as if they move faster. During my high school summers, the July 4th holiday did not remind me that I had ample time to frolic and play. Instead, July 4th reminded me that a new school year loomed in the distance. The period of time between July 4th and the beginning of the school presented a challenge: how should I best fill this time?

Check out the two suggestions below, and of course, feel free to add your own in the comments section below!

Volunteer
Oh the ways you can volunteer. As Elizabeth highlighted a few weeks ago, it’s mid season election time, which means there are plenty of campaigns looking for eager volunteers interested in grass roots campaigning, phone-banking, and canvasing. If politics is not your best suit, consider other areas in your local community. These might include, volunteering at a local senior living home and playing piano for the residents, or finding a local Habitat for Humanity and channeling the carpentar / engineer within you.

Try to Set a World Record
Columbia College’s 2010 senior class president touched on this experience in his remarks to graduates during class day. Interestingly enough, he tried to set the record for total consecutive hours watching television without leaving the couch. And while he did not break the record, he shared how this experience made for a wonderful content in his personal statement essays. A Though attempting to set a record is no guarantee for college admission, there are plenty of useful leadership skills one can develop from undertaking such an endeavor. Such skills include, setting a goal, researching means to achieve the goal, execution of the goal, and reflecting upon the results.

Again, these are only two suggestions, and certainly not representative of all the ways to best fill your time before the school year begins. Use the comments section below to share your ideas.

Image courtesy of Lightmatter, “Hit me”, 4 Feb 2006 via Flickr, Cre­ative Com­mons Attri­bu­tion.