Would you want to spend your summer vacation doing a project? Some schools require students to complete assignments during summer to assure they continue to learn during their break. Now what if you had to do a project that required you to stay home for 6 weeks, but you were gone all summer? What if you had absolutely no interest in a topic you had to research? Rather than being teacher designed, school summer projects should be student-designed because it gives the students more motivation to complete the project, students enjoy doing assignments in which they are interested in, and it gives students a better opportunity to succeed.

Students have more motivation to complete a project, if they are able to decide what it is that they will be doing. For instance, if I had to complete a project that required me to stay at the beach all day, I would totally do it! No one wants to do a project they have no interest in, therefore they have no sense of motivation to get it done. No basketball enthusiast wants to write a 4 page paper on the French Revolution.

Not only does a student have more motivation to complete it, but they actually enjoy doing it too. All students have their passions and things they are intersted in, why not give them the chance to use those to their advantage. Doing a project is a lot more enjoyable when you are doing it on something you are passionate about. For example, if I were given the opportunity to complete a project based off of the history of the National Hockey League, something that I absolutely love, I would totally enjoy it!

Allowing students to design their own projects gives them a better opportunity to succeed. When completing a project that you are not interested in doing, you are most likely not going to give it your best work. As a high school student athlete, my history papers usually do not turn out the best. Now if I were asked to write a paper about my development as a soccer player, I sure would get a better grade than I would on a history paper. I have learned from experience that motivation and success go hand in hand, and interest plays a big role in that.

School summer projects should be student designed because it gives students a better oppportunity to succeed, it gives the students motivation to complete the assignment, and students enjoy doing assignments that they are interested in. No one wants to spend their summer doing a project that they have absolutely no interest in, but once students are given the chance to complete a project based off of their interests, they are sure to love it. If a school should chose to assign students a project during their summer break, they should at least allow the students to decide what they are going to do their project on.