The Death of Summer Vacation
Since when did summer vacation start to feel like… anything but a vacation?
College students nowadays face an inordinate amount of stress looking for summer opportunities. The pressure to do something over summer break seems to be affecting Gen Z more than ever. While LinkedIn Data claims that internships are becoming more critical for finding work after graduation, the ability to actually get an internship is only getting more difficult. Internships have begun to replace entry-level positions, yet many remain unpaid. Being able to devote a summer towards underpaid work is a privilege not every student can afford, and the increasing necessity to do so may widen disparities among economic classes down the line.
In my early college years, I satisfied this need to be occupied by working at an outdoor summer camp. It was an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world. I developed a sense of confidence and adaptability in the outdoors, enabling me to take on formative solo backcountry trips later in life. I made friends who remain some of my most important relationships and became connected to a landscape that is the centerpoint of my environmental advocacy now. I met mentors who showed me what it is like to live with a sense of courage, playfulness and zest for life experience.
I recognize now that these experiences were fundamental to who I am today and in fueling the skills and passions, which translate to my career choices. Despite this value, pressure from peers to find opportunities that were more “career-oriented” shifted my priorities later in college. While applying to countless internships, I remember wondering, was there ever a time when summer break was meant to be just that–a break from the intensity of being a college student?
In fact, interning over the summer has not always been such a thing. The first interns in the 1800’s were medical trainees, and it wasn’t until the 1930’s that internships began to pop up in other fields as well. Internships really began to take off in the 70’s and 80’s. This is when employers began to realize that by hiring part-time, contingent employees such as interns, they could pay less in salaries and benefits and better thwart attempts at unionization. In 2008 (read: big bad recession), the proportion of college students who had held an internship reached 50%, and a quarter of them were unpaid. As it happens, internship “booms” occur when the economy is down.
Although the concept of a company lending an opportunity to a young, spritely student seems like a charitable idea, internship culture is rooted in capitalist strategies for continuous growth at the expense of the worker. As funding for some job sectors are cut under the Trump Administration and the job market for recent college graduates dwindles, the threat of entry-level positions being replaced by underpaid internships may be higher than ever. While this may seem like positive prospects for college students in search of positions, these internships may ultimately be creating false hope, until the job market for recent grads grows stronger.
Where is the beacon of hope for our generation? In my experience, mentorship was more valuable than working with any particular organization or company during my early work experiences. Perhaps your mentor is found through an internship, but finding mentorship does not inherently require you to bow down to career-building systems distorted by capitalism. Some of my best mentors were my rock climbing instructor, a permaculture farmer I met while traveling, and a professor who taught one of my final classes in college. Mentors teach you how to live life admirably. Mentorship is also not something that can be forced. It comes to you when you need it.
Whether or not you find a summer internship, do seasonal outdoor work, find a job that actually makes money, or, craziest of all, take time to actually enjoy life without an overload of commitments, one summer is not going to make or break your career. Live for the present moment. Follow your interests in whatever ways you can under your own control, however big or small that is, and let your life be guided by the people and places you find in the process.