text: studentWhen Alexander the Great led the great conquest of the Old World he never ceased his search for knowledge and the pleasure of learning. Taught by Aristotle, a great philosopher, Alexander expanded his intellectual frontiers of philosophy and culture with every new victory. He recognized that even during the periods of downtime in his empire, there was much to learn. Similarly, many schools require their students to participate in summer assignments built to prepare their minds for the upcoming year. However, while some advocate for teacher designed summer programs, schools would provide summer assignments that benefit the students more if the assignments were to be designed by students. Student designed assignments would provide future classes with the necessary skills they need in a manner that emphasizes the experience of the student in the class rather than teaching the content in a non-classroom setting. Student designed assignments would teach the style of the class, expose the rigor of the content, and test the readiness of the students before they enter the door.