School is nearly out, and summer is getting closer. Many students may relax and enjoy their time off from school, but others may take advantage of the extra time and continue their education by enrolling in summer school.
Bakersfield College student Alberto Flores said that he will be taking an ESL class this summer. “I’m trying to get it out of the way so I can take English B1.”
Flores said that he thinks most other people take summer school so they can finish school faster and get certain prerequisites completed. He also commented that going to school is a nice way to do something useful with the extra time you have.
Student Cynthia Upton will attend summer school because she needs to take a math class so she can graduate next semester. Upton stated that she had never attended summer school until this year.
“I haven’t even registered. I didn’t know if I’d enroll because I have so much going on right now,” said Upton.
Student Remy Carpino, shared some similar views.
Carpino is attending summer school because he needs a certain amount of units, and he is behind and trying to catch up. He has never attended summer school either and thought that the registration process was easy.
“All I had to do was log onto the Banweb, register for and pay for classes,” said Carpino.
The bad part Carpino said is getting up early and having less vacation time.
The more positive point is that he won’t be overloaded the next two semesters.
The advice that Carpino had to offer other students is that “if they are willing to give up a part of their summer, in the long run, it pays off. It helps make the next semesters not so hard.”
Upton also said that one of the reasons she didn’t want to attend summer school is because she didn’t like driving back and forth in the California heat.
“My mind is going to be on break mode,” said Upton. “I don’t like math enough to sit through the summertime heat.” However, she’s going to put up with it.
Against all the negative aspects, Upton said that the one good thing about summer school is the chance it allows for one to graduate earlier.
She also stated that it will minimize the amount of math classes she will have to take the rest of the semesters.
Nevertheless, it seems that many BC students are preoccupied with working instead of attending school. Students feel that they need to work in order to afford going to school and other basic things, so taking a summer school course would get in the way of the extra hours they would be able to work.
BC student Maria Marroquin said that she would also like to attend summer school and take a math course but is not certain if she will enroll. “I probably won’t because I want to work so that I can save up money to move into my own place.”
Marroquin also said that going to summer school is a good experience because you have something to do during the summer, and you can also make new friends.
Natnael “Tata” Ghebretnsa said that he would not be attending summer school this semester because he has to work. “I have to work to save up money to get braces and a new wardrobe.”
Ghebretnsa said that if he were going to take a summer course, it would be a Spanish class or any art class that complements his major, and he believes that many people attend summer school to catch up on something that they fell behind on.
BC Student Chris Mesgown plans on working this summer instead of attending school like other BC students. “I need a job because I need an income to come to school. Without a job, I’m losing. I need a job to maintain so I can be ready for next year.”
Mesgown feels that people mainly come to school because they are down on credits and need to catch up. “People also want to get out of the house, and going to school can keep you out of the streets and keep you out of trouble.”
Another BC student, Jermaine Larkin, was another one of the students who decided not to attend summer school for the same reason that many other students didn’t: He wants to work. “I’m trying to get a job so I can make money.”
Larkin explained that he had taken a summer school course before in high school, but he never did that in college. He also said that many people take summer school to undo the damage that they caused in the classes that they didn’t do very well in. “Like if they did bad during the semester, people try to get their grade point average up.”