Column: Summer school isn’t a punishment

I felt like I had some how been cheated.

Don’t get me wrong — studying abroad was one of the best times of my life, but spending the fall in another country meant I was going to miss out on a semester in Chapel Hill.

I was about to miss out on a whole season of football games, at least a dozen nights warm enough for He’s Not Here and way too many Cosmic Cantina burritos.

So, I put Virginia Beach and summer vacation on hold and enrolled in a Summer Session to try to make up for some of the time I was going to lose out on.

For most of my life, I had looked at summer school as some kind of punishment. It’s what would have happened if I didn’t pass a standardized test or if my parents caught me lighting AXE body spray on fire again.

But something happens when you get to college. It’s no longer a punishment, but an opportunity. As cheesy as that sounds, it’s true.

Every semester, I’ve had at least one class that I had to put way down on my list of priorities because of other time commitments. Most organizations take a pause during summer, so if you stay here, you’ll find that you all of a sudden have a ton of free time. Free time you might as well put toward studying or doing homework.

Taking a class or two during summer ensures that you’ll have ample time to commit to you class routine during the summer which you may not have during the fall or spring.

Whether you want to give an interesting Economics course everything you’ve got, or there’s just no way in hell you’d actually study for Intro to Jazz in the fall, summer’s got you covered.

But this isn’t really anything an academic adviser couldn’t tell you.

It seems like a far off memory now, but I do remember a time in high school when I consulted multiple college prep books to find out what college was going to be best for me. Along with dining hall quality, how cool the computer labs were and kooky traditions, the size of the student population was a determinant factor. If you were like me and couldn’t really come to a decision between a large or small school, going to summer school helps you get the best of both worlds.

With more than 29,000 students here, it’s easy to see a completely new set of faces every day. And as great as that is when you’re trying to avoid someone from last night, it’s possible to get the feeling of being lost in the shuffle.

That’s not true during the summer. You see the same people in class, the same people at the gym and the same people at the pool. A smaller community is quickly built.

When you take these things into account — along with kiddie pools in front yards, getting to watch clueless CTOP-ers and drinking Blueberry Wheat at ToPo — it’s impossible to deny that everyone should spend at least one summer in Chapel Hill.

opinion@dailytarheel.com