After a harsh winter last season with over 200 inches of snow, summer is finally here. It seems as though the summer is the only time of year we have to ourselves to relax and think things through. We need a break from the cold, and we want to explore the world. We want to travel and go on vacation. It’s possible to feel stressful being around the same environment we’re in during exam time or long projects.

As students, we deserve our breaks; we work hard eight months out of the year as the majority of our focus is undivided. But rather than take a break between mid-May to late August from everything we’ve built for ourselves in our minds and on campus, we shouldn’t drop everything and halt our educational paths and passions.

It’s hard to catch a moment, as meeting with family and friends on vacations traditionally dominate every summer. That’s why it won’t come; it needs to be created. Time and opportunities are not things that normally present themselves before us; It’s our job to find the time and put some aside to work on what’s important to us so we don’t fall behind at the start of a fresh fall semester.

Practicing this is a healthy way to keep our minds actively thinking about what’s to come in the new year. It’ll also help us figure out what things we genuinely want to pursue as we continue to grow our education.

What are some subjects that make you grumble? You may need to learn them, but you know they aren’t what you want to pursue. Focus on, instead, the activities or hobbies that you find yourself somehow doing even when you’re pressed for time. It’s in these things that we can practice during the summer, and use for fuel when we come back in the fall, with a ready-to-learn attitude within the major that we chose.

The North Wind comes together every year to create a summer issue to welcome those touring campus for the first time as well as remind everyone how important it is to stay informed with the news and updated on what’s happening around us.

So go spend time with family. Read a book. Sit in the sun. Whatever it is, continue on with your summer festivities. But don’t forget that this is time you have to better yourself and show the fall semester that you’re ready for it.