Making final days of summer count

With his sunglasses on and his long-board resting against his leg, Tim Ferrell, a sophomore at UVU, sent several text messages to his friends so he could finalize plans for his last trip of the summer.

Ending the summer months with a bang is important to Ferrell and many students across campus. Although the beginning of the fall semester is exciting, it’s also a time when life gets busy and stressful, so many students use the end of the summer as a time to complete as many final activities before the rigorous routine of studying begins.

Ferrell and five of his friends planned a trip to Lake Powell to spend the weekend before school starts having fun, boating and soaking up the sun.

“I’ve been to Lake Powell a couple of times this summer but I’ve been saving my last trip for the weekend right before school starts,” Ferrell said.

While at Lake Powell, Ferrell and his friends plan on wake-boarding, tubing and swimming all day. He will also be camping for all three nights.

According to Ferrell, being outside is the ideal way to spend the end of his summer before he will be sitting in classrooms all day again.

“I’m excited for school to start, but I’m also bummed that summer is almost over. I need to get in as much sun as possible while I still can,” Ferrell said.

Unfortunately, not every student is lucky enough to spend their final days of summer having fun.

Shelby Hutchins, a senior at UVU, recently started a new job as a waitress at a restaurant in Provo. Hutchins had been looking for a job that she could  keep while in school, so it’s important to her to make a good impression during her first few weeks on the job.

“I would love to take a vacation before school starts, but I don’t want to ask for time off since I just started,” Hutchins said.

So instead of playing, Hutchins worked work the night shift on Friday, Saturday and Sunday before the fall semester started.

Along with taking vacations and clocking in hours at work, another popular end-of-summer activity among UVU students is catching up on sleep. School brings many responsibilities that students do not deal with during the summer months, and with these responsibilities comes a lack of sleep.

As a group of students sat outside of the LA building discussing their schedules for the upcoming fall semester, one student reflected on how little sleep he anticipated getting once school begins.

Dusty Simmons, a senior at UVU, is taking a full load of 18 credits so he can graduate in December. He chuckled when he said he expects little sleep for the next few months.

Simmons said. “Since I’m going to be so busy this fall, my ideal end-of-the-summer activity is sleep.”