The Summer After Graduation: It Was The Summer Of…

Finishing your degree is perhaps the single greatest achievement in your life. After years of toiling in class, struggling during exams and cursing at professors, it is all over. No more textbooks, no more professors and finally no more chalk being thrown at you.

What do you do?

Many have enough gas left in the tank to hit the pavement and get that dream job; others may go for that extra degree. Some will hit the sack and wake up in the fall.

But the fact of the matter is that even the school valedictorian is not going to change the world over that summer. Some students will do great things, but they are often well rounded. And to become well rounded, you need to travel.

On Graduation day, once you walk up to the Dean and receive your diploma, you have a choice to run out of the auditorium and pitch yourself to corporate recruiters or walk back to your seat, sit down and ponder what to do next.

What next is a matter of personal situation, state of mind, finances as well as ambition. One suggestion is to travel. Some of you may do so for your future job but many of you will not.

Whatever you do, take a break and explore. Travel around the world or go across your country. It will recharge your battery and give you time to reflect on what road you want to take when you return home.