Originally Posted: May 16, 2012
Last Updated: May 24, 2019
College campuses become a ghost town in the summer, right? Wrong! Many colleges and universities continue the hubbub of the school year straight into the summer months with classes, activities, athletic camps, and much more. Here are some colleges that are taking summer break to the max:
John Cabot University in Rome holds their Creative Writing Summer Session each year for students interested in developing their creative writing skills and exploring the beautiful city of Rome. Each year, the program hosts writers-in-residence, and this year, John Cabot will have novelist Joyce Carol Oates and poet Billy Collins on-hand to instruct students and take part in some public readings of their work. If I do my CollegeXpressing in Rome for a few weeks, my boss won’t notice...right?
When I was a freshman, I attended a summer session at my school, Penn State, before starting in the fall. The classes and student life were wonderful, but the most memorable weekend is the Centre County Festival for the Arts, more commonly known as Arts Fest. Alumni, current students, and locals head back to “Happy Valley” to reconnect with friends and have some fun, all while checking out some gorgeous artwork. There are tents that sell anything from jewelry to handcrafted furniture, or you could even browse my favorite part: the sidewalk art.
Ever dream of visiting the tropics of Hawaii? Summer may be your perfect opportunity! The University of Hawaii at Manoa offers “Summer @ Manoa” sessions, with hundreds of courses offered in two sessions over the course of the summer. So students can come and get some credits while enjoying the surf, sun, sand, and multicultural events on campus. They even offer non-residents in-state tuition rates for the summer!
The average person may think snowy locations, like Colorado, die down in the summer. But some schools like the University of Denver continue their education through the summer months. These options don’t just take place on campus, though; this summer, there are international travel courses headed to Australia and Nicaragua for a short-term, four-credit class abroad. There are also domestic travel options, and interterm courses on campus in anthropology, management, and religious studies.
