Some schools require students to complete summer projects to assure they continue learning during their break. I believe summer projects should be student-designed because they can be creative, enjoy time, and express what they have learned during their summer break.

To begin with, creativity reflects who you are. Student-designed summer projects would let the students think outside the box because it gives them an opportunity to create their own design. In my experience, many years ago, I was asked to work on a project but it had a certain format that I did not like. They had gave me a theme that I was not able to understand. I had to see it in their point of view and to be honest, it was difficult. I was not able to be creative nor express myself. That project had limited my creativeness and being creative is an essential step on working to complete a summer project.

Furthermore, Students could enjoy part of their summer time working on their summer project. They would have enough time to complete their project and would not be distracted by any classmate because everyone would be doing their own project. Therefore, assigning them to do their own summer project would give them enough time to complete it and enjoy part of their summer working on their own project.

In addition, day by day students learn something new. Other than working on their chores; they have time to go outdoors and explore new things during their summer break. Exploring helps you gather new ideas. Student-designed summer projects would be amazing because they could express what they have learned during their summer break. For instance, in 2019, I traveled to my parents birth country, Cuba. I had experienced something new. As a city girl, I had never seen an animal giving birth; in Cuba, I saw a cow giving birth; that was my first time seeing such thing. My grandfather had taught me the entire process. Another example, in 2018, I had turned fifteen years old; therefore during the summer I was able to take my learner's permit test. I went to take the test during the summer and fail it. I failed it because I did not take the time to study and thought I knew everything. I was wrong. In life you learn new things day by day. You should not do things in a rush; patience is important. When you learn new things it is also important to share with classmates and teachers because they can learn from it too.

People may argue that teachers know what they will teach the following year so they should designed the projects but what they do not consider is that students could express themselves and teach their teachers and classmates something new about their experience during their summer break. A hand full of students would feel pressured if they would have to work on a teacher-designed summer project.

In summary, summer projects should be student-designed because students would be able to express their creativity, enjoy time, and express what they have learned during their summer break to their teachers and classmates. I take this position and encourage every teacher to assign student-designed summer projects based on my reasons stated.