text: Summer assignments should be student-designed as students know how much time they have over the summer to spend on school work. Last summer my friend Generic_Name was very busy as she had a leadership role at a summer camp for two weeks, she camped for a week, and she had volleyball practice everyday in August. As the first day of school was approaching Generic_Name realized that she still had to read a book and answer questions on it for school. Many students, just like Generic_Name, have very busy summers and often have trouble finding time to complete those boring teacher-designed projects. If summer projects were student designed, students could create a project that fit into their schedule rather than long projects that took away from their time to themselves. Another example showing that summer projects should be student designed is my cousin Generic_Name. Generic_Name lives in California and last year her school started a new initiative where they left summer projects in the hands of the students. The students designed a project where everyone had to create a presentation showing what they did over the summer and how those activities impacted them. With this project, Generic_Name didn't have to go out of her way to complete it as she just had to take photos and journal about the many things she was doing over the summer, which made this project fun and easy for her. The students at her high school created this project as they knew it wouldn't take away from the students time to relax, go on vacation, and hangout with their friends and families. In the past, Generic_Name would never complete her projects as she simply didn't have the time to do it because the teachers were assigning reading projects with long packet that analyzed the assigned book. Overall, students brains will be better stimulated over the summer if their projects are student-designed because they will be more motivate to find time to complete the projects.