With the 2023-2024 school year at a close, Linfield students have gone their separate ways for their three-month long summer break. Summer break is a chance for students to work, travel, see family, or simply just relax and take a load off after a long school year.

Burnout from school is real and most students are more than ready for the long-awaited summer break to arrive. But do Linfield students really relax and take time off during summer?

“I am so excited for summer because I’m exhausted with all of the school work,” said freshman marketing major Jadyn Harrell. “However, this summer isn’t really a break for me because of my work schedule but it will be good for my goals and what I want to achieve.”

Harrell will be working all summer at a golf course in Lake Oswego, Oregon while also focusing on her modeling career and creating a portfolio for it. With the money she earns from work, she plans on traveling to Las Vegas, California, Utah and Hawaii. And she’s not the only Linfield student working to earn some money this summer to go to fun places.

Freshman nursing major Isabella Kanehe plans on working at either Black Rock Coffee Bar or Ava Roasteria.

“I am very excited if my plans work out money-wise,” said Kanehe. “If everything works out, I will be able to go to both Hawaii and San Diego this summer.”

But not every Linfield student is working to go on vacation. Some are working in accordance with their future career plans.

Freshman nursing major Saylor Swanson is one of those students.

“This summer I plan to start working full-time as a caregiver in a nursing home in the memory care side,” said Swanson. “I will be taking care of and helping dementia patients and eventually will work as a med tech to regulate and help with medication.”

While many college students work for various reasons, others go home and take a true break from the commitments and busy schedules of school and work.

“My plans for this summer are to go back home to Hawaii,” said exercise science major Kaitlynn Canubida. “While I’m home, I will go to the beach, play tennis and work some.”

There’s so much to look forward to in the summer between seeing friends and family, working, going on vacation, and chilling at home. Between the excitement for fun plans and exhaustion from school work, it is easy for Linfield students to be excited about the end of the school year. But the end of the school year also means saying goodbye to close friends and the place students have called home for nearly 10 months.

“I am both sad and happy that school is ending because I only get two years in McMinnville and I have made a lot of friends who are leaving this year,” said Kanehe. “But, I am happy because I need an academic break and time with my family.”

But the end of the school year also means saying goodbye to close friends and the place students have called home for nearly 10 months.

“I am excited for my new job, to be home with my siblings and to see my friends who went off to different schools,” said Swanson. “On the other hand, I am going to miss all of my out-of-state friends so much and I will miss living on my own.”

There’s give and take for everyone with the fast-approaching arrival of summer break. But as final exams finish up and the sun begins to shine more frequently, it’s hard not to be pumped about the potential for a great summer and a nice, long break from the stresses of school.