10 Activities For High School Students
During Summer Break

Are you a high school student or the parent of one and are wondering how high school students should spend their summers? Summer is a great time to relax and recharge, but it’s also an excellent chance for students to get work experience, do an activity they enjoy, and boost their chances of learning a trade or getting into their preferred college.

This article will help identify several summer activities for high school students and how, together, choose the best option.

Like most families, you may have a lot of options for how you can spend your summer. On the contrary, due to  COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing makes it extremely difficult to pursue many leisure or educational activities.

How can you decide what you should do? Here are some questions to review with your teen to help narrow down what activities are best for them:

• What do you enjoy doing… the most?
• How busy do you want to be? 
• What are you your future long-time and short-time goals?
• Will you have a method of transportation?
• How much money is available for the summer activities budget?

1. Start a new hobby or perfect one you already started. Hobbies include sports, clubs, or other activities that you do either through school, with a local group, or on your own. Some examples include sports teams, clubs, or a hobby you do in your free time, such as painting, working on computers, or creating a small business.

2.  Start a club or join one. This means either establishing your own chapter of an organization that already exists at other high schools, or creating a club that is something completely different from any other club at your high school.

3. Try a local or national summer camps! Summer camps aren’t just for making s’mores and going on nature hikes anymore. More and more summer camps for high school students are being created that have unique focuses such as cultural immersion, performing arts, wilderness skills, and more.

4. Volunteer at a nonprofit or purpose driven organization. There are many places where you can volunteer including schools, animal shelters, retirement homes, museums, and more.

5. Get involved with research. Experience in a lab as a high school student is really impressive to colleges. Cold call professors or ask your parents to talk to anyone they know who is connected with a university to see if you can work in their lab or be a part of a safe experiment. Always speak to your primary doctor before participating in experimental activities. 

6. Check Something Off Your Bucket List. Whether it is training for a 5K, marathon, sky diving, or tackling some books you have always meant to read.  

7.  Become a mentor or tutor to peers or younger students at your school or within your community.

8.  Take an online course. Since we are not able to take classes in person, there are plenty of opportunities to learn online. Many online course databases, such as Lynda.com and Skillshare, offer online subscriptions that allow you to access thousands of courses with video tutorials

9. Get a Side Hustle! Find a side job and earn some cash to put aside for college. Having a job can be an impressive extracurricular activity!

10. Relax. While it is important to be productive and not wasting the summer doesn’t mean you can’t take some time to get relaxation and refreshed and for another school year. .