All of mine worked summers. They all gave notice early in august and relaxed and enjoyed a couple weeks before we shipped them off.
I took D on a vacation the week she graduated and then she worked and worked some more to help pay for her books, room setup, and have spending $$ to supplement her work study. She did take a week off before school started and enjoyed some down time. School had a 3 night orientation program she attended before the semester started too.
DH cracks me up. I mentioned to him that I was wondering what the pups did before they went off to college, and he said - “well, they shopped a LOT, then packed the car…”
D is working at the local supermarket and hopefully will spend some time learning a little about computer science. She has no experience with CS and it is a required class for her program next year. After 3 summers of pre-college programs and sports camps, she is really enjoying working in the real world (and enjoying the money too).
DS tried to get a camp counselor job but it fell through. He spent time getting ready for freshman year, avoiding his classmates that were making bad choices, hanging out with his GF, going on a family vacation and doing odd jobs for me. Some of those odd jobs had needed done for a long while. I really appreciated it and paid him fairly. 
Mine just chilled out and then got ready to go to school
Every summer, including this gap year before heading to college, we go camping near hot springs or water falls. In my family, summer is a time to rejuvenate.
My son, as every summer,is going to west end house camp in ME, he love it.
Summer before starting college, my kiddo made a bunch of calls and weaseled her way into being allowed to observe at a biological station research lab.
She rapidly manipulated a researcher there into creating a volunteer position for her, and spent the summer doing gel electrophoresis and polymerase chain reaction applifying DNA…in addition to a lot of grunt work like hauling carboys and doing lab dishes, and counting things on samples (root nodes, as the case happened to be), and entering spreadsheet data.
She just kinda…jumped right into her adult life, found people who could teach her something, and cut a deal to be allowed to learn.
The biological station lab gave her a terrific reference that helped her secure her lab job at UMich freshman year. The University lab taught her a bunch of other practical lab skills. With her added skill set, the biological station was able to hire her full time in the summer as a paid employee.
She’s kept both jobs ever since.
She also spent the summer applying for dozens of scholarships.
This is a kid who is determined to graduate debt free.
I did make her take some time off for a family vacation, and she and I disappeared for a few days to do the world’s longest garage sale…but for the most part, the kid is one of those nutty type A people who is always thinking about strategy.
@MaryGJ I have been reading your posts- your daughter is certainly one driven young lady who knew exactly what she wanted while still in HS. Mine needed a break… although one can argue that working at camp is not viewed by all as a break LOL.
They both made decent money due to tips and babysitting jobs… which made me happy.
Our son worked so hard during his 4 years at high school (summers included). After all that work we wanted to make sure he could reflect and experience nature. So, rented house on Kauai where he, snorkeled in clear water, watched dolphins and manta rays, ate at farmers market, and sway in a hammock…while reading the books chosen for his freshman class.
S worked in food service,took a week long road trip with friends and binge watched shows. D did the work to pass her student run theater production company onto the next batch of teens and worked a few of their shows – but in much smaller roles than in earlier years. Her school ended late and started early and it was hard for her to find a real job–she worked some estate sales and other random stuff (and binge watched cooking shows!). If you have any interest in theater, look around for productions that could use you–either on stage or behind the scenes.
S1 began working for the US Census (2010) a couple of months before graduation. He went to Senior Week in Panama City, FL, came back and finished out the census job. He worked his first college summer for our local parks and recreation doing maintenance, second at a supermarket and his third as a house sitter to my brother’s in-laws and sports editor of the summer edition of his school paper. He was also sports editor for three regular semesters which paid him a stipend equal to what he would have made at minimum wage for 20 hours a week. Things worked out well for him.
D09 spent her last summer working to get some spending money and spending time with her friends. She also played in the pit of our town’s summer youth musical program. S17 will be running tech in that same program and is looking for a job.
Mine is working a minimum wage part time job, spending time with friends before they all go their separate ways, and spending lots of time with ME. <3 
We moved out of our home of 15-16 years . . . that was crazy. Did a major remodel of our new home. We traveled a little bit. During all this DS studied for a CLEP exam and wrapped up all the loose ends he needed to start at UF in August. That summer was an awful blur. Wish we had kept it more low-key but there really wasn’t any way around it.
My soon to be freshman is working and doing her summer workouts to get ready for the first year of college lacrosse - coach has them working out 6 days a week.
D and I are definitely concerned about college money so she secured a nanny job which is close to full time plus is a lifeguard manager at a neighborhood pool. I feel like she’s working a bit too much and I would like her to have more of a break this summer, but I’m glad she is taking the money concerns seriously. She texted me the other morning to say she is never having kids! :))