Summer is almost over, and what do we have to show for it? Some of us have six weeks of 40-hour work weeks and little fun. For others it consists of a complete understanding of the Pokemon series and all of its characters. Still others have a great tan, a loss of hearing from a multitude of concerts and an extra 10 pounds due to a four-day drinking ritual.
It is amazing how our summers change with age and expectation. I can still remember my high school summers where my main concern was playing golf and baseball and hanging out with my friends. Yes, I worked in high school, but it was a mindless job-as many of ours were in those days. We could work part time, keep up with “Voltron” and “Thunder Cats,” while still allowing our parents to believe that we were busy all summer long. The days were filled with cartoon watching and couch lounging if a good day, or yard work and work if a bad day. The choice of having to pay for a car was an idea in the future most of us dreamed about and worked to attain. The days of nine hours of straight work consisting of sitting at a desk in front of a computer and calling it experience was only a twinkle in our eye.
Which brings me to another point (pardon my derailing off the story) but I find the issue of summer internships quite interesting. Students already pay a tuition that mirrors the cost of a two-story home in Chesterfield, yet are still expected to pay the school for an internship for which we do not get paid. The university requires the students to pay the University the same amount as if taking a regular class on the Frost campus. All students get in return are a very long paper, endless copying, endless lunch errands, endless data entry and one project to call their own. The university’s involvement is to put this internship on your transcript and call it experiential learning. I don’t find this education but highway robbery.
Back to the case at hand, summer, which again is less than eight weeks from ending. When did the expectations of us rise to such a high level? Our parents and other adults no longer accept us simply sitting on the couch and watching cartoons. Even now, they expect us to do something over the summer months. Even if we choose to be lazy, our laziness must be filled with something. If we choose to be lazy, our days must consist of suntanning, concerts galore, nightly drinking, frivolous spending but not just being a couch potato. The days of cartoons and snacks are past us now. The sooner this is realized, the sooner you can become a mindless drone like the rest of the 200 million Americans bent on success.
My suggestion is to use these last eight weeks as training for yourself. Whether this is your last semester, as is mine, or if you are a newly-founded Billiken, use this time to prepare your mind, body and spirit in whichever way you see fit. The moment we receive high school diplomas, expectations increase exponentially. The moment we enter college, mediocrity is an expensive past time.
Believe me when I say that the road we travel today will affect the horizons of our tomorrow. We can use today as an on-ramp to our future, or we can use today as our future. There is not a written rule that says as a college student you cannot live life but only prepare to live life.
Use this free time that college allows to gain understanding of your path and yourself. The moment you understand yourself is the moment others will begin to understand you.
Along with all of this I have just spouted I would like to give you several ideas for your final summer project. Call the Cartoon Network and every other station that does afternoon cartoons and lobby them to play reruns of the original “Voltron,” “Thunder Cats” and “Transformers.” These new-fangled cartoons are not the same as ours from the ’80s. Before I start on the greatness of the ’80s pop culture I will say good-bye and see you in eight weeks.
Josh Campbell is a senior studying political science and communications.
