“The Arc of Experience”: 5 Summer Experiences Every Student Should Have Before College
I like to think that inside every teenager is a "best version" of their adult self, just waiting to be revealed. I know, I know - for those of us who are in the middle of the maelstrom of teen (or pre-teen) drama, that’s sometimes hard to believe. But it’s true - your kids at some point in the not too distant future will be expected to be fully functioning adult humans.
When it comes to experiences that help this transformation take place, the summer months offer a great opportunity for students to enrich themselves and expand their horizons. When I was in high school, there was a pretty limited set of summer experiences available, and not much expectation for the role that the summer months should play in one's academic development. Today is different, however. Summer is increasingly seen as an opportunity for supplemental academic life experiences that enrich and expand one's horizons. And there's increasingly an expectation on the part of college admissions departments that students will use their pre-college summers wisely to further their goals and interests.
With that changing context in mind, here are 5 summer experiences that I believe every student should have in their pre-college years. Think of this as an “arc” of experience that every student should traverse during the summers of their middle and high school years.
#1: Participate in a career exploration program. A relatively new entrant onto the summer experience landscape, career exploration programs give students an opportunity to discover their passion, visualize themselves in a future career and work with groups of other students to collaborate and solve problems in a real world environment. Think of a student who is interested in law getting a chance to learn from real lawyers and participate in a mock trial in an actual courtroom. My company, Envision, is the nation's leader in this field.
#2: Learn a language. Learning a language- not at a surface level, but through deeper immersion- is increasingly seen as a pre-requisite for participating in a global economy. As a side benefit, learning a language also expands your brain capacity, improving memory and attention span. (For a great blog on this topic, click on the following link: http://www.fluentu.com/blog/advantages-of-learning-a-foreign-language/). A great provider of immersive language learning experiences is Middlebury Language School.
#3: Travel internationally. Once a teenager is equipped with those language skills, travel internationally! Students today have a number of opportunities to travel internationally through school sponsored groups (often through organizations like EF Tours and Worldstrides). According to website The Young Leader, international travel for teens sharpens self-awareness, enhances perspective, fosters independence, and strengthens leadership skills.
#4: Give Back. Students should also take advantage of opportunities to help the less fortunate. Service learning or service travel is a great opportunity for this. I had the experience when I was a teen to spend parts of two summers assisting poor, rural communities as part of the Appalachia Service Project. Today there are organizations dedicated to service learning like Global Works Travel. Churches and other local organizations often sponsor service travel trips as well during the summer months.
#5: Have fun! Despite the increased expectation that summers "count" towards college admissions, teens should still remember to have fun and use time during the summer to decompress from the academic rigors of the school year and to have good times with friends and family.
Participating in this kind of “arc” of experiences enables every student to make the most of their pre-college summers, while unleashing that "best version" of their adult self within each and every one of them.
Written by
Duncan Young, Envision CEO
