For most students, summer means the beginning of a much needed months-long break from school. For some, however, the stress of school never fades away. Some schools require that students complete assigned summer projects in order to continue learning, even when not in school. The importance of continued education is rarely argued, but the way some projects are planned out might not always result in engagement and time investment from the student. To combat this, schools should allow students to design their own projects. This would assist in motivating them to put their best work in, less stress upon the student, and helping them feel a sense of pride and accomplishment in their finished product.

As a student who has had to deal with a multitude of summer projects, I can say without a doubt that I have never looked forward to spending time out of my day to work on them. The most typical summer project given to me and most students has been summer reading. The books are almost always teacher assigned, subsequently tying them into their curriculum for the upcoming year. Before my junior year began, I was tasked with reading

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote for my English class. Personally, I enjoyed the book, but the project that went along with it was less than interesting. In turn, this led to me putting off my project until the last few days of my summer break, bringing along the stress of having to cram it in before the school year started. Since this project was teacher-designed, I also had to make sure to follow the strict guidelines in order to ensure a high grade when I turned it in to the teacher. If I was able to create my own project relating to the book rather than a teacher-designed project, I truly believe I would have enjoyed my finished product more than I did, along with eliminating the stress put upon me by the project's strict guidelines.

When a student is assigned a summer project, their immediate thoughts are almost always negative. This comes with the fact that they do not want to do work over their break, as this is one of the few times out of the year that they're allowed to forget about school for just one moment. Adding to this, if the student is given a teacher-designed project, this puts the motivation to do said project even lower than before. They know that they have no control over how their project turns out, as they often revolve around a fairly black-and-white rubric, resulting in a lack of diversity and creativity between each individual's project. If a student is tasked with the creation of their own project, however, this leads to a wide variety of exciting and new projects that vary from student to student, also placing motivation in their hearts to make the best project they possibly can.

Often after a teacher-designed project is finished, the only reaction of the student is relief that it's finally over. With teacher-designed projects, students often only work to completion, not to make a project they enjoy. However, if students are able to design their own projects, the reactions to their finished product would give them self-pride that they created what they believe to be their best work. For example, when I created a project after reading

The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I was able to look at my completed project with the feeling of pride and joy that I had truly created the best project I possibly could. The increase in moral for these students would give them a more enjoyable learning environment and the excitement of a new school year starting so that they're able to share their work with someone else who will appreciate it.

Many teachers would argue that the creation of student-designed projects would be unimportant to the curriculum, as they don't truly focus on something that needs to be taught. However, the importance of student-designed projects is to encourage them to be creative and to not be stuck in the mindset of just passing the class, instead opening their eyes to new ideas and allowing them to think outside the box.