Students often forget the things which they have learned during the school year over the long summer break. To combat this some schools require students to complete summer projects to continue the learning of students and to attempt to keep them from forgetting what they have learned. However, many students dislike these projects because they view them as stupid or they belive that they aren't impactful. These projects should be designed by the students if they should exist at all; having these projects designed by the students would help the students to get more out of it, to have more of a connection with it, and to perhaps learn what they would like.

If these projects were designed by the students then the students would be able to get more out of it. The students would be able to, with some parameters, read a book that actually interests them or research something that actually matters. The students, because they designed it, would be more interested in it and since they are more interested they would learn more about the topic. The students would see it less as something that they have to do and more like something that they want to do. Some may think that they wouldn't get more out of it because they wouldn't design a worthwhile project and in some cases that is true. However, if the students had some parameters surrounding what they could and could not do as well as help form their teachers, then they would be able to learn from the project and actually get something that they would remember out of it.

The students would have more of a connection with a project they were able to design. The students would have a greater interest in doing something they got to choose and in turn would produce not only better projects but they would also have learned more than if they were just assigned something. However, they would still need some kind of communication with their teachers in order to design a good project and to get help with research when needed. Since they would have a greater connection with it then they would not only learn more but would actually remember what they learned. Having this connection would actually help to achieve schools' goal of getting the students to continue to learn and to remember what they have learned.

With control over what they get to do, students would be able to learn about things that actually interest them. For some students this wouldn't help all that much, but for many it would; having a topic that actually interests them would help them to put more time into research and and would make the project more meaningful to them. Having a project that would be meaningful to the student would be the best way to ensure that they continue to learn especially because it could spark an even greater interest in the subject and could create something that the students actually look into for longer than just the summer.

Essentially all of what makes the project useful boils down to meaning of the project to the student. If the project has meaning then the student has more of an impact on the student. If the goal of a school is to continue the education of students then the projects must have meaning to the student so that they will actually learn about and remember what they looked into. Overall the project should be student designed so that the student may get more out of it, have more of a connection with it, and would learn about something that actually interests them.