High School Juniors Summer Bucket List

Before your juniors take off for the summer, help them come up with their own personalized bucket list of important college preparatory activities that they can accomplish (and feel proud of) before they even start their senior year of high school. 

Visit college campuses

Visiting a campus can help solidify a student’s perception of a college, helping them with the tough task of narrowing down their top college choices. If a student’s family is not in the financial position to explore colleges in person, consider sponsoring a group campus visit through your high school or alert them to the idea of taking a virtual visit. Many colleges provide this resource—consider contacting an admission office to schedule a virtual visit, maybe even for a roomful of your students. 

Get a summer job

Not only does it make sense to save up some money over the summer by working, but encourage your students to get summer jobs in industries they are interested in as a career, even if they are tangentially related. Interested in being a vet? Hit up your local vet hospitals and see if they have positions cleaning animal kennels. Interested in business? Contact your local community business organizations and see if they offer summer employment opportunities for college-bound students. 

Volunteer

Similar to taking on a summer job, your students can peek into the industries and careers they are interested in by volunteering. Are they interested in the sciences? Connect them with organizations that focus on the environment or sustainability. Are they interested in the arts? Connect them with volunteer opportunities at museums in their local community. The volunteer experience also gives the students a chance to boost their self-confidence and have some interesting items to share in application essays, during interviews with admission counselors, or on scholarship applications. 

Job shadow

Participating in a job shadowing experience can take up a day or a week and your students will have the rest of their summer to work, volunteer, visit campuses, and have fun. Ask them what interests them and find appropriate employers who will be willing to allow them in for a day or more. Some places might even offer a virtual job showing opportunity for those students who can’t due to health concerns to be in attendance in person.