Many students participate in summer fun under the sun, but this may be turning their brains to mush. On average, students lose two months of reading skills over the summer and spend six weeks in the fall relearning old material, according Oxfordlearning.com. 

Summer school provides a class with the necessary components of the curriculum, Steve Jeretina, summer school principal, said, and is a “great opportunity to make sure that a student is building instead of regressing” during the summer.

“I went to summer school for all four years of high school and each year I really enjoyed it,” Grace Bejnarowicz, senior, said. “It’s been a very relaxed environment, but you still got all the same education that would have during the school year.”

Bejnarowicz has taken a variety of classes during her summer school experience, but she believes this continuous learning has not taken away from her relaxation and enjoyment during her break.

“I do not feel like summer school interfered with my summer experience,” Bejnarowicz said. “Summer is such a long period of time anyway, and a few weeks doesn’t really take much out of it, and school gets out pretty early. I’d probably just be sleeping in until around the same time anyway.”

There are several classes provided over the summer that include ones that are mandatory to graduate and, according to Jeretina, some students take advantage of this so they can have more opportunities during the school year.

“People take summer school for a variety of reasons,” Jeretina said. “Some people take it for advancements so they can fulfill requirements so the following year they can take classes that they are more interested in that fit more with something they will find useful for college or their career. There’s also opportunities so they can replace a grade. If you had not done as well as you had hoped or potentially failed the class, you can take it over summer school so you can continue on with the next school year with the normal progression of classes.”

Although summer school provides many opportunities, not every student may be fit for this type of learning, as the five hour class days provide more information than a student would typically be taught during the school year, according to Jeretina.

“You’re engaging in whatever particular course you’re taking much more than you would at a typical day during the school year, so a student would need to be able to take in a lot of information, as well as understand and absorb what they are learning, which can be a lot,” Jeretina said. “Instead of taking a class over a semester of 18 weeks, you’re taking it over three weeks but each day represents a week. instead of 44 minutes, you’re in class for five hours, so you’re getting quite a bit more of that course on a given day.”

For students who might find five hours in a classroom with breaks in between to be too difficult, this summer with be the first time that LZ is also providing online summer courses such as consumer education, government, science and society, and music theory.

“If a student is very self directed and believes that they can do it at their own pace and can ensure that they are going to be self directed enough to complete the course or the various bench marks along the way, then online schooling is a great option,” Jeretina said. “At the same time, if your schedule doesn’t allow you to physically go to a classroom because of camp or if you’re working or whatever it might be, you can take the summer school options you’d like whenever you want.”

In order to register a student for summer school, a parent or guardian has to go to home access and will find the registration information there. Registration is open from the beginning of March to the end of June.

“Taking a class during the summer gives you more opportunities during the school year to classes you want and have more opens. It gives you something to do over the summer so that you’re not bored or just staying in your room or in your house,” Bejnarowicz said. “I enjoy it better than regular school because it still feels like summer and it still feels like you’re on break. You’re learning but you’re also having a good time.”