Every year, students get excited for their summer break so they can hang out with friends, relax and sleep-in. However, some choose to take summer classes. From getting ahead academically to learning more effectively, summer courses offer benefits that can make academic life easier.
Getting ahead
By taking the courses in summer, high schoolers can raise their GPA. GPA is the total percentage of your grades divided by the number of classes. Taking more classes means less dependence in a single class.
Sophomore Safa Ali who took Health and Physical Education summer courses talked about her experience.
“I think [taking summer classes] was beneficial because it freed up course space during the year, so I could take more classes that I wanted to and it wasn’t that hard,” she said.
Sophomore Audrey Kelso agreed.
“They definitely helped me with getting ahead, because I could do so much work in advance for the classes and I was just on top of everything. Especially because it being summer, I had way more time to actually get stuff done” said Kelso.
It costs from 137.50-270$ to take a summer class. Senior Sadie McGraw shared her opinion about the cost. .
“I think that they are definitely pretty expensive, but I think it’s worth it,” McGrawsaid.
Learning environment
Summer courses are usually online, so students can learn from wherever they are. This adds to the benefits that summer classes offer.
9th grade counselor Linda Brown explained why students choose to take classes online.
“Rather than doing in-class learning, students like to be able to have more control over the time and place that they are learning … to make room in their schedule for taking something else and having a study hall,” Brown said.
Freshman Sinem Yilmaz explained her decision to take Language of Medicine and Physical Education over summer.
“I am hoping that just because they are online and over the summer, I still get the full experience, I still learn everything that I would have learned if I were to have taken it during the year” Yilmaz said.
Students often choose to take physical education over the summer, and it’s one of the most popular summer courses.
“If a person has a reason that they are uncomfortable with doing traditional physical education, this might be more comfortable for them,” Brown said.
Usually the classes are smaller, which means that focus on each student will increase.
“I think [summer classes] are better because you can kind of get more attention from your teacher and get more personal instruction,” McGraw said.
Less time and more progress
While some people think that classes take away their time for relaxing over summer, some find the courses less time consuming.
“I liked how it made the course really concise and kind of had all the material really dense, in fact into a short but good class that still conveyed all the information,” sophomore Andrew Baxter said.
Kelso agreed.
“I really learned just about the same. I’ve taken summer Health, summer Physical Education and Driver’s education. I think I learned the same,” Kelso said.
Summer classes are a good option for students who want to spend their summers productively, learn a subject more deeply or save space for the next academic year while still enjoying their well-deserved vacation.
