Summer can be a great time to hang out at the beach, but a person can only take so much surf and sand.
Photo courtesy of The National Park Service on Flicker Creative Commons

“There’s 104 days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it, so the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it.”

We don’t want to admit it, but we all face the same problems Phineas and Ferb did. Summer is great and a well-deserved break from school, but sometimes we may have a little too much free time on our hands.

Many students look forward to summer because it’s a period of rest. At first, it’s great – a little time catching up on Gossip Girl here, maybe a little time cleaning up your room there – but unless you have a job, things can get pretty boring pretty quickly. Let’s face it: how many times have you sat there scrolling through Instagram or watching Netflix because you had nothing else to do? It’s great to relax a little, but when you have binge-watched the entire series of Teen Wolf in three days, that relaxation may have become a little unhealthy.

This is not a campaign against summer; it is a well-needed respite from school. Students work so hard during the school year and deserve a break. As hard as it is to admit, though, it is a good thing to back to school.

Summer lacks a routine without a job or organized activity. There are no set wake-up times or schedules. Days are spent without any structure or plans. While students need this freedom, it is also nice to be back to a routine with school. We know what we are going to be doing each day and will no longer have the feeling of days being wasted doing mindless things. Being back in a routine allows students to be more productive and spend their time doing useful activities that will benefit them one way or another. Routines provide structure and momentum and boost efficiency. People are more likely to do something if they are already doing something else.

Back to school means back to seeing friends every day.
Photo Courtesy of Olivia Cantarella’18

Speaking of routines, going back to school means being back with friends. Students can get back into their routine of weekend hangouts and daily homework groups. Gone are the days of not being able to plan something because someone is on vacation, and back are the days of knowing that everyone will be at home because they have to go to school. Being back at school means students have assurance of their friends’ locations.

Along with having friends all over the place, summer also provides another reason for not getting together: the sweltering heat. Though summer may not officially be over when school starts, the weather starts to cool down a little. People can go outside without being afraid of passing out.

Different people also have various reasons they are glad summer is over. For example, IHA Junior Annie Wojnarowski, thinks “It’s really good that the summer is over because my job starts in the fall and it’s so fun.”

So, as hard as it is to be back at IHA, summer ending really is a good thing.

By Heather Farrell’18, Junior Editor-in-Chief