text: The final reason why summer projects should be student-designed is that one can exercise self reliance. When a student creates their own project, they rely fully on themselves. Self-reliance is a skill that can only be gained by practicing. This is a great skill to have because one will need it in the future. It is beneficial to start learning how to be self reliant as soon as possible. While creating summer projects, one can clearly see that students gain the important life skill of self-reliance.