<p>Mathmom, I though "I" had the only 17 year old boy who has no interest in learning to drive. Hopefully he will learn this summer as well.</p>
<p>For those of you in New York City who have kids learning to drive:</p>
<p>If your kid only drives in the city, he or she will not know how to drive in the dark. There is no true darkness in New York City. City kids don't even know what the word "dark" means. </p>
<p>I went to a rural college that attracted lots of kids from New York City, some of whom had cars. The rest of us were terrified of getting into a car with these people because they were totally inept at nighttime driving. </p>
<p>So if you're ever visiting a less populated area, try to give your kid a chance to drive at night. Your child's future college classmates will thank you.</p>
<p>Most of the people I know who graduated spent their summer working either full-time or part-time to save up money for college. They didn't really do anything terribly exciting (lab assistants, cashiers, etc etc) but they did manage to save quite some cash for spending/book money or any random extraneous costs.</p>
<p>My summer job after graduation was working on the line in a truck assembly plant. Talk about hard work!! I sure appreciated my first-hand insight into the world of an autoworker when my first job out of college was as a production supervisor in a truck plant. Goes to show you ... what you might think is menial can turn out to be helpful in the long-run.</p>
<p>D will work (for the 4th summer) scooping ice cream at the ice cream stand down the road. She hopes to also work someplace else to earn as much as possible for school. Even if we did not "need" the money, I would expect her to work. Kids need to know what it's like to have a job --- and even typical teen jobs offer great experience that will come in handy in life.</p>
<p>Not many kids are going to graduate & walk right into 6 figure jobs --- and if they are lucky enough to do so, it would be helpful to the people working for them if they actually have some understanding of what normal, average people go through at work!!!</p>
<p>Heh. WashDadJr is getting a job -- unless he decides that he doesn't need clothes or food next year...</p>
<p>I hear you on the night time driving. I'd actually had a lot of experience driving at night, but got rusty after three years in NYC. I remember once getting the nightime shift driving through Vermont and realizing that even if the speed limit was 50 mph that was way too fast for me at night, especially when I was tired.</p>
<p>I had a great job the summer after my senior year in high school - though I got paid a pittance. (I think they had to pay me from the pencil budget or something.) I worked in the library at the USIS library in Tanzania, putting up exhibits about current events and visiting artists. When Nikki Giovanni came they sent us a whole exhibit structure to put together. It was like a giant tinkertoy. The perks of being a foreign service brat. :) Somehow all my brother got to do was pump gas. He got a lot of reading done.</p>
<p>My son will be returning to his awesomely responsible position as the wiffleball commissioner for our local rec. department. He still can't believe that he gets paid to watch little kids hit a plastic ball!</p>
<p>CinciMom-
well, you know you're doing something right! My son worked at scout camp during HS - being the metalwork instructor (which he liked) and camp clerk (which he didn't). </p>
<p>BusinessGuy,
the camp positions that we are talking about are neither well-paying nor 'high powered'. However, they are an excellent introduction to the art of dealing with a variety of people - who may or may not behave rationally - and all have their own interests at heart (not the organization's). Kind of like the real world. </p>
<p>From your posts, it appears that you do not need the money that summer employment would offer, and that your parents will fund all of your expenses. If this is true, it opens up other, non-paying positions with voluntary organizations, or some of the abroad programs mentioned in this post. Whatever you decide, best wishes for an interesting summer.</p>
<p>Thank you ohio mom, I never implied that I want a high powered or well-paying job/internship, only that I want to do something interesting and enjoyable. I'll look into positions at camps, I haven't been to one before so it could be a good experience.</p>
<p>I'm sorry if I appear to be arrogant because I'd like to enjoy myself over the summer.</p>
<p>If you want to go to China, you should hurry up and apply. The programs are wildly popular now and spaces will be taken by mid February..</p>
<p>CET academics has a few programs--one is intense immersive language--and one is more of a cultural overview. The language one will give you a year's (!) worth of college credit.</p>
<p>They will take rising freshman--as will most programs--if you plead your case and demonstrate some level of maturity. My older son did three aborad programs prior to starting uni--the younger is doing the same. chekc out Gap Year.com for more ideas.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, many of the abroad programs are dominated by female students--so the sponsors are quite keen to have a few nice guys apply.</p>
<p>I taught at riding camp at my stables last year, but I probably can't work in DC this summer unless I stay at a friend's house, because my family will be moving (not sure where yet) and I'm not sure I'll have a place to live. I'm thinking about renting a room or small apartment and working--retail or waitressing, nothing glamorous--in Stockholm (I'm Swedish), but I'm not really sure how to apply for jobs from overseas, so I don't know how realistic that is.</p>
<p>"I'll look into positions at camps, I haven't been to one before so it could be a good experience."</p>
<p>Im going to reinforce the camp idea! I love it! It's tough and can get stressful (in terms of lots of things going on at once, not necessarily so much on your mind), but I have learned SO much!</p>
<p>Partly because I work at a Jewish day camp, where Israelis come and help out the entire summer. My co-counselors the past 2 summers were Israeli and its really interesting to see how they live. Plus, when the fighting began in Israel last summer, we all began to raise money for support. Also, i help teach Kosher cooking for the cooking camp, and I have learned a lot. As a perk (even though Im a member of the JCC), you get full access to the gym, workout areas, pool, and sauna when you work there. Although you wouldnt be working THERE, there can be lots of perks when it comes to working at certain places. </p>
<p>Also, since Ive been working there for 3 summers, they can make some awesome recommendations in the future that will offer a different side of me...</p>
<p>BusinessGuy -
"I'm sorry if I appear to be arrogant because I'd like to enjoy myself over the summer."</p>
<p>Forums are difficult because we only have words to go on. I think you will find something interesting and worthwhile to do - especially as you are starting to think about it now (last year, a lot of kids didn't work this out until May or June!).</p>
<p>Also remember that if you truly love your college - you're really going to want to be there starting in July or so. Because of the way my son's camp job, and a trip to a competition, and our annual family camping trip worked out, he had too much time to relax. He was really ready to get the heck out of Dodge when school started.</p>
<p>Businessguy, I didn't think you meant to come across as arrogant. In my neck of the woods, if my son said he wasn't interested in working at menial type jobs and they bored him, he'd get a bucketful of cold water poured over him. But our economics are clearly different. Never discount the value of any kind of business experience, however, whether office duties, retail, hospitality, whatever. Best wishes for your future!</p>