Summer is a time for recuperating and relaxing after nine months of hard work in school.

However, many students feel that the little time they are given to take a break from school should be used for even more intensive studies and academic activities.

Counselors, parents and teachers force students into filling their summers with time-consuming summer internships, classes and jobs. Often, students feel no choice but to add further stress to their lives in the summer in order enrich their college applications.

With AP classes, SATs and several hours of homework a night, students already have enough to busy themselves with during the school year. After all this time and effort, there really is no need to work that hard during the summer.

Too many activities in the summer can drastically lower students’ morale and make them feel that all they have time for is work and nothing else. In fact, depression and grief can result from the stress inflicted and lack of time to relax and enjoy oneself.

In no way should students stop working hard. Instead, they should try to find an ideal balance between work and enjoyment. Students can work hard during the school year so that they can have a more pleasant experience during the summer. Being bombarded with too many activities in the summer becomes excessive given the already enormous workload during the school year.

Summer classes are an unpleasant part of students’ lives not just because they are during their supposed break, but also because they are much more difficult than normal school year classes. Summer courses have to cover an equal amount of material in a much shorter span of time, making them more stressful. For example, a geometry course in the summer will cover a semester’s worth of study in a six-week period, greatly increasing the difficulty of tests, homework load and class work.

What is surprising to see is that some students actually look forward to the extra work and time they put in for their summer activities, jeopardizing their time of relaxation with burdensome and time-consuming activities. Students need to realize that their entire lives do not have to be dedicated to hard work, especially this early in their lives.

Students should be able to use their summer time wisely and enjoy their break with less strenuous activities. There is a long break for a reason, so that students can mentally rest themselves before another long school year. Going camping, to the beach or even to a foreign country are just a few simple yet exciting activities students should take time to enjoy during the summer.

With their whole lives ahead of them to work, students should utilize the time they have now to enjoy their summer vacation. In the future these students will regret what time they gave up as an adolescent and though they may have gotten into a slightly better college because of their “necessary” activities in the summer, what they lost was worth far more than what they gained.

When these high school students grow up, they might look back at their youth and see how much time they spent working over how little time they spent having fun. No one can have their youth back, so students need to savor it now.