I love my co-op, but in the past few weeks I’ve been hit with a serious case of senioritis. Coming into work was bliss when there was a foot of snow on the ground and free hot coffee in the office. But when it’s sunny and 75 degrees, I check my e-mail and wonder how my friends who aren’t working 40-plus hours a week are spending their free time.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed my co-op experience:’ I’ll miss working in a professional newsroom, interviewing and writing about interesting people and constantly learning new things from co-workers and I’ll definitely miss the steady paycheck whenever rent is due.
But right now, I just want to sit on a beach for a month. The end is near and it’s wrecking my work ethic.
It doesn’t help that my non-Northeastern friends are all out of school and throwing parties and barbecues, which, being a newsroom rookie who works almost exclusively on nights and weekends, I can’t attend.
Despite overwhelmingly feeling like a kid in elementary school counting down the seconds until summer vacation, June is not a time to slack off. It’s the month your employers will remember best when they write your recommendation or consider you for a future position.
I may have lost the fight against senioritis in high school, but it won’t happen this time around. After doing some Googling, I have a plan.
Keep on training:’ Co-op may be close to over, but there is only so much you can learn in five months. Use the sixth to boost the ‘skills’ section of your resume with a new procedure or computer program most co-ops don’t learn.
Pitch a project:’ Hopefully you’ve made a good enough impression on your supervisors that they are willing to give you some free reign. Think of something you’re interested in, research it thoroughly and suggest it to your boss. E-mail former professors or your co-op coordinator if you want guidance on how to pitch an idea. Most supervisors will appreciate and remember your initiative.
Train new hires:’ Remember when in January you stumbled into work completely clueless and had to ask a more experienced employee about every step of every process? That fantastic, worldly employee is now you. Take the new summer interns off your supervisor’s hands and teach them how things work.
Revise your resume:’ Remembering all the things you’ve learned is much easier before you’ve cleaned out your desk. List your daily tasks on a piece of paper as you complete them.
Get a head start on the rest of the summer:’ Start looking for another job, buy textbooks for Summer II classes or pack up for a trip abroad. It doesn’t matter what your plans are for July and August as long as you can get excited about them.
Put away the countdown calendar:’ So there are only 33,697 minutes until 5 p.m. on your last day. You’ll be disappointed when you check it in half an hour and there are still 33,667 minutes left, and by counting down, you’ve accomplished nothing.
But most importantly, use your weekends wisely. Go out for ice cream, plan a trip to Cape Cod, play baseball in the Commons or buy a new bathing suit – anything that reminds you summer is here.

‘- Gal Tziperman Lotan is a middler journalism major and member of The News staff.