As the last day of school quickly approaches, students are wondering how they are going to spend their summers. “Should I lounge around the house?”, “Should I get a job?”, or “I wonder how long I can hang out with my friends?” are all thoughts going through the mind. Well, this column takes a look at the spectrum of summer jobs students are taking over the summer.

Haley Bubley, Sr.; X-L Engineering

Bubley will spend the summer interning at X-L Engineering Co., an engineering manufacturer company in Niles, Ill.  X-L develops different equipment that is used for defense contracting, aerospace technology and business equipment, to name a few. Bubley found this internship through a manufacturing expo she attended with her Computer Integrated Manufacturing class. “Because I’m going to be an engineering major [at the University of Iowa], I want to get a head start on the curriculum and [gain] a better understanding of engineering as well as tools useful to me in my later pursuits of engineering,” Bubley says.

Elan Ness-Cohn, Sr.; Habonim Dror Camp Tavor

Ness-Cohn chose to be a camp counselor at Camp Tavor, a sleep-away camp in Michigan. Ness-Cohn will be working at Camp Tavor the whole summer; he will work in the kitchen and then be a counselor for the campers. “I have been going to camp since the sixth grade, so naturally I wanted to work there,” Ness-Cohn says. Additionally, Ness-Cohn sees his employment at Tavor as an opportunity to gain leadership and responsibility skills that he can utilize later in his life.

Abdus Saleem, Sr.; Currency Exchange

Saleem has been working at the Currency Exchange in Chicago and will be continuing his job over the summer. Saleem, who obtained this job through a friend,  sees working at the Currency Exchange as providing useful skills for his future. “Working [at the Currency Exchange] will help me learn a lot about business and marketing, which I plan on majoring in at DePaul,” Saleem says. “This job gives me great hands-on experience in what I want to do in my future.”