So you’re sitting on the living room couch, watching your third straight hour of The Real World, and your parents ask you for the fourth time to please empty the dishwasher. As you shoot them the look of death, you wonder when the hell it’s going to hurry up and get dark so you can go out, sit in some park and drink cheap beer with the few remaining friends you have left from high school. After three and a half months of this, returning to Guilford starts to look pretty good.
Does this summer sound familiar? Don’t worry. There are literally hundreds of places and organizations looking for slackers just like you.
Summer offers a long span of time for students to do whatever their little hearts desire. Interning, volunteering, traveling, and just plain old outdoorsy jobs are all refreshing alternatives to a summer at home. Making money and improving a resume are nice incentives, but so is the opportunity to meet hot foreign people.
Here are just a few ways you can look into having an exciting and (dare I say) productive summer.
Internships:
Internships are the way to go if you want hands-on experience in your area of study and want to earn college credit at the same time. Though most are unpaid, all are important for getting you active in your potential career choices. You can intern with your favorite newspaper, at a dance company, or on Capitol Hill. You can even find an internship fighting the drug war!
Applying for internships can be daunting, so Guilford is here to help. The Career and Community Learning services can help polish your resume and cover letter; faculty sponsors can help point you in the right direction and give you some good leads. This year summer interns can earn up to four credit hours for the fall semester. Don’t worry – there is very little red tape involved.
For more information, contact Emily Schmidt, the Career Counselor for Internships, at [email protected].
It might also be helpful to look at these websites: www.internshipprograms.com, www.careerservices.com, www.internjobs.com.Volunteer:
Volunteering at home is both challenging and rewarding, but volunteering abroad spices things up a bit. You can use this opportunity to brush up on your foreign language skills, live and work with people from different countries, and take time to do a little traveling. International work camps are plentiful and are established all over the world. Most organizations require a simple registration process rather than a full application. They typically cost between $200 and $400 and last anywhere from two to six weeks. Most programs have no language proficiency requirement. These short-term, team-oriented projects include anything from organic farming to AIDS education, environmental projects and setting up music festivals, or working with children. Accommodations vary from living with host families to cooperative living in schools or apartments.
For more information, check these web sites:
www.volunteerabroad.com, www.takingitglobal.org, www.ciee.org, www.i-to-i.com.
If going abroad this summer isn’t part of your grand plan, volunteer a little closer to home. This way you can serve your own community and try to save a little money at the same time.
Here are some websites for more information:
www.voluteermatch.com, www.4laborsoflove.org, www.idealist.org.

Seasonal Jobs:
Summer jobs don’t have to mean living at home, mowing lawns and baby-sitting. While the pay is never extraordinary, working outdoors with people your age is not a bad way to spend three months. Seasonal jobs suit a variety of interests: being a raft-guide, working at a state or national park, working at a camp, being a hiking guide, and even driving other people’s cars cross-country. There are straightforward job search engines that allow you to sort by location and or job type.
To find out more, visit these websites:
www.summerjobs.com, www.acacamps.org, www.adrift.com, www.actionjobs.com, www.roadrat.com.

Summer School:
Graduating in four years poses a challenge to many Guilford students, so look into your local university or college and pick up some credits or sign up for obscure classes that our small school would never offer. You’ll find that many schools’ summer courses are cheaper than Guilford’s and most credits transfer over. Just be sure to clear it with the Registrar’s office first.

If all else fails, by all means sit on your couch, play video games, and drink cheap beer. Sounds like a nice departure from the Guilford norm.