High School Success Starts in the Summer
I used to think summer was for checking out, ignoring the planner, and just floating through July like a pool noodle. And for a few summers growing up, I did exactly that. But what I didn’t realize until later was that summer can be the most powerful stretch of the year: it’s the one time when you have the freedom to choose what you want to do with your time. You can choose what you want to learn—without grades and without deadlines—just focusing on your own personal growth.
So, what should you do over the summer? In my experience tutoring high school students, the most important skills aren’t always what you’d expect. Sure, you need to write a good essay and pass all your classes. But long-term success, both in school and beyond, comes down to a few key qualities: self-direction, curiosity, communication, and resilience.
Self-direction is probably the most underrated skill in high school. It’s the difference between the student who does their homework at 11:59 PM and the one who finishes by dinnertime and then starts their own passion project. The truth is, no one can force you to care about your learning. Much like learning how to drive for the first time — where you end up is up to you. And summer is the perfect time to practice. One of my peers in the Brown-RISD Dual Degree program would spend her summers teaching herself graphic design. She watched YouTube videos, made fan posters for her favorite movies, and ended up designing the school playbill when classes started up again in the fall. That initiative stuck with her, helped her stand out college applications, and led to a successful experience in college. She now works at Google.
The second quality is curiosity. And I’m not talking about textbook curiosity. I mean real, nerdy wonder. The kind that makes you lose track of time and forget to eat dinner. In high school, so much of your curiosity gets crammed into rubrics. But during summer you’re free to chase weird questions. Why is modern art so crazy all the time? How do computers work? What was the Cold War about? Read about it. Watch a documentary. Follow the thread. Your curiosity will guide you towards your unique interests and that will help shape the rest of the trajectory of your life.
The third skill is communication; expressing ideas clearly, especially in writing. High school is full of writing assignments, but many students never get a chance to write for fun. This summer, write something just for you. Start a journal, write movie reviews, or email someone you admire and ask to interview them. It might be tough at first and feel a little cringe to reread it, but you’ll be grateful to have it as a time capsule for this point in your life. Writing is thinking. If you get better at it, everything else gets easier. Especially as more and more students use AI to write their essays for them. Knowing how to formulate your arguments quickly and clearly becomes an invaluable skill.
Finally, there’s resilience. High school can be brutal. One bad test and it can feel like the end of the world. But resilience is what helps you bounce back stronger. And the best way to build it is to try something hard over the summer. Something where failure is a part of the process. Try a 30-day challenge of learning to play the guitar. Stare down the mold that invaded your jar of starter as you learn to bake sourdough. Try to animate a film. Take a coding course and build the worst app ever. The goal isn’t perfection, it’s to struggle and keep going. The ability to continue working in the face of hardship is a life skill that matters more than your high school GPA.
So, if you’re wondering what to do this summer, here’s my advice: pick one challenge which excites you and one that scares you. Follow your curiosity and don’t be afraid to do things badly before you do them well. Remember your summer doesn’t need to be packed. It just needs to be yours. If you invest even a few hours a week in building these skills, you’ll walk into the fall sharper, more confident, and ready for whatever comes next.
Here are a few books I recommend to all my students:
Elements of Style by E.B. White for how to write concisely and clearly.
So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport for thinking about long-term success.
Mastery by Robert Greene changed my life in high school and motivated me to find my life’s purpose.
By mentor Remy, a graduate of Brown Univerisity.
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