In High School, many classes have summer projects, although mostly science classes. These projects, since the dawn of time, have been created by teachers to keep the project focused on exactly what the teacher wants, and to ensure the assignment is a rigorous and difficult experience. While teacher-designed projects have been the primary way for a long time, student-designed projects are a much more engaging and enriching experience for students to experience.

The actual designing of said project can be an enriching process for the students. When students are allotted time at the end of the previous year to create it, there is an opportunity for teachers to review the project. The primary issue with student-base projects over the summer is the ideology that students may not hold themselves to the standards teachers traditionally would. This time before summer starts would allow teachers to see what students want to do, and guide them towards the standards expected by the teaching, but in a way in which the student can hold the assignment at their skill level. In the current system, students may be handed an assignment to do over the summer that is not at their level of education, but the student-created projects give students an opportunity to create something they know will be challenging. With these projects tailored to the student's learning level requirements, and meeting teacher expectations, students know what to expect in their project. Nothing is a surprise, making goals very simple to set. Students could set a reasonable, obtainable, calender that would bring them to where the teacher wants by the end of the summer. This whole process of making an engaging and educating assignment will likely be a new experience for many students. It has long since been believed by human that 'the best way to learn something is to teach it'. Being both the teacher and the student in these projects gives students the opportunity to learn more than they ever could from a traditional teacher-designed project.

A few years ago, summer projects were banned from Generic_City. Parents were complaining about too much work over the summer. This was most likely caused by the project not fitting them, an issue with the system of teacher-designed projects. Under the concept of student-created projects, students could design their project to be feasible within their busy summer schedules. If a student is going to the beach, and they need a project for biology, they could keep a log of all animals and signs of animals on the beach, with pictures, and explain the significance. Under the previous system, they may have been expected to go into the woods and do something similar, which would not be possible to accommodate under their schedule. Other classes, like math, may expect students to complete a giant packet covering all material. Because this is an impersonal packet designed to challenge everyone, some students may whiz through large portions of the packet, or get bored on the simple, more tedious, math. Other students may find parts of the packet beyond their skill, or find themselves in need of someone to ask for help, who may not be readily available. If students were to design their own packet, they could focus it on areas they know to struggle in, and pick the skill level required for each problem. Students who bore easily could create fantastical problems that engage the student to want to find the answer.

During the freshman year of high school, the school attempted to utilize a system called personalized learning. The idea behind this system was to have assignments tailored to the expectations of teachers and students, and be as engaging for that specific student. It failed spectacularly. Many students skipped significant portions of the day, because teachers didn't create many assignments. Others sat on their phone in class, pretending to work. The problem was the amount of work expected from the teachers. The teacher was expected to know exactly what level each person was at, and to create something unique for each student. That is an unbelievable amount of work to put on a single adult. With the system of student-designed projects, however, students would know their own level. Students would know where they struggle, and where they thrive. Students would know how to create something that meets their expectations, and it would be quite simple for the teacher to confirm that this assignment is up to their standards as well. While asking each student to create an entire year's worth of content would be asking a lot of the student, running into the issues discovered in the personalized learning fiasco, this system would ask them to make one assignment, a much more manageable task.

Teacher designed summer projects is a very simple system, and is asking no more from the teacher than what they are already doing. This system, though, is ineffective, and disliked by students and parents alike due to the inflexible nature, during the time spent away from school schedule. Student designed assignments over the summer would allow students to prepare themselves for the next year, in what they need reviewing of. Not what their classmate needs reviewing of, but what this individual student needs to learn.