In some schools, students are required to complete summer projects to continue learning over their break. These summer projects insure that students enter the school year prepared for learning, and have an easier adjustment to the start of school. When these summer projects are student-designed, it gives the students opportunities to explore a wide range of topics that wouldn't normally fall in school curriculum, and learn about something they are passionate about and enjoy doing it. This is why summer projects should be designed by students, not by teachers.

When students are given the opportunity to explore topics of their own choice, they have a chance to learn something that doesn't fall within the typical curriculum of schools. In schools, the main subjects taught are Math, History, Science and English. When students aren't limited to these basic subjects, it allows them to research something that may not be covered in school. If a student is interested in cooking, but there are no cooking classes at their school, they could choose to learn about it over the summer. The student-designed projects also give students a chance to take control of their learning and direct their projects themselves. Students are able to choose the direction that they want to take their project in. They could present their learning in an essay, virtual presentation, or even in a work of art. This freedom allows the student to customize their project, therefore being more interested in it. When given the responsibility of choosing their own summer project topics, students are able to choose something with significance to them and show their work in individual ways, keeping them interested in their projects.

When summer projects are student-designed, it gives students the opportunity to center their projects around something that fascinates them, which keeps them interested and makes them put in more effort. When schools give out summer work, one big issue that they face is that it is most likely about a topic that students aren't interested in. This leads students to feel bored with their work, and put in less effort. When students are giving the freedom to lead their own projects, they can choose something they like. When they do this they put in more effort, and work harder on it because they are passionate about it. When projects are student led, and they choose their own directions of work, this gives them a chance to learn something from their project, not just work to fulfill guidelines. I once had a summer project to read a book, and it was a book that I was not interested in at all. This led me to just read and write a paper about it for a grade, not to learn. If I had been able to choose something that I was passionate about, I would have been able to learn something from it, and not just work to fulfill guidelines for a paper. A current problem that schools face is that children only work for grades, not to learn and retain information. when students can lead their own projects, they will put in more work because they are passionate about what they are doing and therefore learn information instead of working just for a grade.

When students are restricted to teacher-designed projects, they feel trapped in the guidelines for the project and end up not enjoying the projects. This makes them more likely to put off the assignment to the last minute, which leads to them performing poorly on it. When students are limited to guidelines on a project and don't have the opportunity to customize their project, they end up enjoying it less. When it comes to a summer long project, if a student doesn't enjoy what they are doing it can end up spoiling their summer. When students don't feel passionate about a project and don't have the opportunity to have input on it, they are more likely to put it off to the last minute. if they do this, odds are they will end up doing poorly on it. When I was given the task of reading a book over the summer, it was on a subject that I had no connection to and didn't want to read about. I ended up putting it off till the last week, because I was dreading it so much. This meant that I spent the last week of my summer reading about something that I disliked. When students have the freedom to design their own projects, they can choose something that they enjoy, which makes them less likely to put it off to the minute and do poorly on it.

As our schools face an ongoing struggle of keeping kids interested in their work, student-designed summer projects could be a start to foxing this problem. When students choose the direction of their projects, they aren't restricted to certain topics. This allows them to choose something they are passionate about. This makes them more likely to enjoy their project and actually learn from it.