Wondering how to ensure you have a meaningful summer regardless of your summer plans? Here are 15 suggested strategies to consider:
1. Conduct Informational Interviews:
Reach out to professionals, alumni, or family connections in fields you’re curious about. It might lead you to consider an option or help you rule something out. Use LinkedIn &/or JHU’s OneHop
2. Volunteer for a Cause That Matters to You:
Gain leadership, collaboration, and project management experience. Local nonprofits, mutual aid groups, or advocacy orgs often welcome short-term help.
3. Take on a Personal Project:
Build or create something: an app, a podcast, a blog, a robot, a short film—anything that aligns with your interests and strengthens your skills.
4. Learn a New Technical or Creative Skill:
Pick one skill (coding language, CAD, public speaking, data analysis, Photoshop, etc.) and dedicate time to building a mini-portfolio. Don’t forget to add to your ePortfolio – JHU Digication
5. Work a Summer Job:
All work builds transferable skills: time management, communication, dealing with ambiguity. Consider the skills gained from roles in restaurant work, camp counseling, or retail jobs.
6. Start a Values Journal:
Reflect on what matters most to you and why. What energizes you? Excites you? Drains you? These reflections can help guide future decisions even beyond the summer.
7. Read Widely—Not Just Engineering Texts:
Choose a mix of books/audio books/podcasts/webinars on topics such as career memoirs, leadership guides, social justice perspectives, science fiction, or whatever sparks curiosity. Your learning doesn’t have to be linear.
8. Create or Update Your Resume and LinkedIn:
Highlight coursework, projects, leadership, and technical skills. Articulate: What (strong action verb) did you do?, Why (purpose, intended outcome) did you do it? and How (process, tools) did you do it? Upload your resume to VMock for additional tips and suggestions or LDL drop-in hours.
9. Join Online Communities or Events:
Find a community around your academic, cultural, or professional interests—Slack groups, Discord servers, subreddits, virtual meetups or professional associations.
10. Shadow Someone Locally:
A day or week spent shadowing a professional (engineer, designer, entrepreneur, etc.) can give you insights into what ‘a day in the life’ might be like.
11. Set Micro-Goals:
Use the summer to test ideas. Want to see if you like sustainability work? Do a mini challenge—like designing a low-waste system or researching green infrastructure in your city.
12. Reflect on Your First Year:
What surprised you? What felt easy, challenging or exciting? What did you avoid, and why? These insights can help shape a more intentional sophomore year for your academic and personal life.
13. Map Your Network:
Write down everyone in your personal, academic, and professional life. Consider their knowledge-base & skills and what parts of your life they could give you guidance or insights into (academic, research, personal, leadership, etc.).
14. Have a “Design Your Life” Conversation:
Consider a Life Design prompt with a friend or family member: “What would your life look like in 5 years if money and status didn’t matter?” Share and reflect. What did you notice?
15. Rest Intentionally:
Create space for unstructured time, sleep, and joy. A rested brain is more creative and resilient.
