Summer Enrichment
The Law of Diminishing Returns says that the more times you receive something pleasurable, the less pleasure you’ll get from it each time. Summer vacation is one of life’s few pleasures that defies this law. But this is only because it follows a different rule: that pleasure varies directly with what you have to struggle through to get it. Since every year of high school is remarkably more difficult than the last, the summer break that follows tastes even sweeter and more refreshing.
Far be it from any of us to deny you this pleasure. But the time inevitably comes when reality must tap you on the shoulder and spoil the party, reminding you that what lies ahead is even more rigorous. This doesn’t mean that you have to cut your fun short, however, but only that you have to devote a certain amount of time and effort to preparing for the next stage. Now, you are left with two ways to handle that stubborn and implacable reality. You can put it off as long as possible, crunching everything together, leaving yourself exhausted and sick of school before it even begins. Or you can parse it out over the course of the summer, interspersing work in our high school summer enrichment program, with rest and relaxation so that the beginning of the next school year will settle in smoothly. It goes without saying which is the wiser choice.
If you are heading for the tenth grade, you may be faced with your first honors or AP classes. If it’s eleventh grade, the hills on the horizon are even steeper: there is the SAT, and the fact that your junior year will be the most important on your transcript. And if you’re an ingoing senior, you’ll have to contend with college applications. The first term of the twelfth grade comprises what will likely be the most grueling four months of your pre-adult life. There is no sidestepping this, so why not make it easier on yourself?
Beginning in July, the Study Hut offers morning and afternoon summer sessions for students who want to make the transition into the next year as painless as possible. We cover everything: summer school, general academic preparation, advanced essay writing, summer reading assignments, SAT prep, college application workshops, et cetera. Summer schoolwork can be depressing, especially, because it is isolating (at least at school, in the classroom, you were all in it together). One way to keep yourself from being discouraged is to work alongside a tutor — in the presence of someone who’s eager to do the work with you.
The brain is not a muscle, but it behaves like one. With regular exercise, it stays fit and alert, ready to perform. Without maintenance, it goes soft and atrophies. Going into a new school year with a soft brain is like trying to sprint several miles without warming up. But, fortunately, this is one of those situations for which the solution is many times less painful than the problem. So, as unpalatable as it may sound, consider keeping a modest schedule of study time during your vacation-join our high school summer enrichment program. Your summer will still belong to you.
