Lifestyle Oklahoma State University students share their summer shenanigans

Emi Norton Staff Reporter

OSU’s own, reflecting on their summer so far and looking forward to the upcoming semester.

Other than spending much needed time at home with family, summer brings with it a season for traveling, new job opportunities, social life and a variety of other ways in which students spend their time away from the classroom. Keeping that in mind, Junior elementary education major, Paige Ely, has successfully spent her summer taking strides towards her career choice using her degree.

“I work 40 hours a week with kids at a summer camp at a school I used to attend,” Ely said. “I’m teaching kids I went to school with so it’s very special to me.”

Other students, like first year finance major Jason Nguyen, have also initiated learning opportunities by taking advantage of the traveling season. He hopes to take his experiences within cultures that are different from his own and expand his personal interrelations.

“This summer I’ve gotten to experience life in multiple other states and have networked out to meet a lot of different people living life opposed to what I’m used to,” Nguyen said. “Seeing how people live from a different point of view and being able to see cultures in other places was one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had this summer.”

While students highlight the ways in which they have spent a lot of their summer preparing for the upcoming semesters at OSU, being able to relax and maintain their social lives is not at all forgotten. Senior aviation management major, Caymon Severs, has spent his time off getting to meet with old friends and further the development of his landscaping company.

“Summer vacation is vital for a college student,” Severs said. “I continued my work with my landscaping company and finally got to visit my buddy’s hometown in California. I got to meet their family and friends which was super exciting and definitely had a much needed vacation.”

Summer vacation is the break that students get in order to refresh from the stress that goes hand in hand with the load from two semesters of course work. With two and a half months of time off from collegiate duties, students have a chance to do the things they might not have time for in the fall and spring.

Haylee Rooks, junior business management major with a minor in management information systems, is an advocate for the benefits that the break provides for students.

“I really think that summer vacation is necessary as a college student because we need time to recoup and relax, especially after the spring semester,” Rooks said. “It’s a time when people can go home and spend time with their families and hometown friends that they might not get to see as much during the academic year.”

With that, Rooks is not the only student who feels this way, as Tatyana Curry, a senior pre-nursing major shares the same opinion. She is expecting new opportunities inside her field of practice in the near future, and is appreciative of the mental break this summer has allowed her to take advantage of.

“I’m a little nervous for this upcoming semester, so I have used this time off to really reset and focus on something else,” Curry said. “I spent time working at The Pioneer Woman Mercantile, and devoted the rest to getting my sister ready for her first year at college. Besides that, you can catch me enjoying my days at the lake.” entertainment.ed@ocolly.com

Whether it is traveling, spending time with family and friends, relaxing or continuing educational progress, students at OSU are all in all grateful for the break.