You don’t have to work in Student Services to understand what I mean when I am talking about the “Summer Slump”.
It’s not that you don’t have enough to do. It’s not even that you lack the motivation to do it. The problem lies in the fact that mysteriously through the months of June and August, everyone in the office disappears.
It’s a strange Left Behind feeling that I am sure Kirk Cameron can sympathize with. It starts when Suzy from the Business Office announces she will be camping for two weeks at the end of July. “Good for Suzy,” you think. Then it’s Sherry from recruitment who is taking that much deserved R&R after the busy season. Excellent work Sherry. Then its the Food Services guy, the HR gal, the kind receptionist, and pretty soon you find yourself walking into the Admin office hearing crickets and watching tumbleweeds slowly roll past.
For those of us who work in higher education the problem is magnified by the lack of students roaming the hallways.
I’m busy enough. The work of planning ahead, reassessing, networking, brainstorming, researching and refuelling has certainly kept me up to my ears in workload. Yet, all that just doesn’t compare to the rough and tumble that comes with a busy academic year.
Though the rental groups do add some noise and commotion, it just isn’t the same without classroom antics, evening events, spontateous drum circles, artistic productions, or students sending me distracting viral videos off of youtube. Come to think of it, have I even watched “Man Riding on a Buffalo” lately?
My attempt to cure the summer slump is to remind myself that taking a moment to inhale and exhale is the best way to refuel for another academic year. I keep working on new projects, spend some time researching, and catch up and reaquaint myself with the staff members who aren’t sunning themselves in tropical Bermuda. 🙂 Its the best way to keep myself from running frantically around a half filled campus screaming, “Where has everyone gone?!”
So here’s the question: How do you survive the summer slump?
