Every school in the Monmouth County Vocational School District (MCVSD) has its own distinct personality, and these differences manifest themselves through the varying amounts of summer work assigned to its students.

Summer work at CHS typically consists of reading one of several assigned novels and discussing it in a seminar at the beginning of the year. Classes such as Advanced Biology have additional assignments.

Senior Ally Weitzman of Marlboro is taking AP Calculus this year and must prepare for the course by completing a packet and taking a test on the material the second week of class. Weitzman said she finds that the reading is manageable, but the math packet poses challenges.

“I find it easy to handle the work. However, since I’m taking an AP class next year, I have a lot more work,” Weitzman said. “This is new to me, and I’m not sure how I’ll handle it.”

Senior Erin Richardson of Tinton Falls, a student at the Academy of Allied Health and Science, must also complete a math packet over the summer to prepare for AP Calculus and said the packet is taxing.

“I find that the math work is very time consuming and a little much,” Richardson said. “I have definitely spent over six hours already.”

In previous years, Richardson had to read one or two books over the summer. She did not mind being tested on them in the beginning of the school year but said that it was tedious to complete book reports.

Junior Sean Maniar of Tinton Falls attends High Technology High School. As a junior, his school requires him to read and summarize a book as well as complete math and chemistry packets over the summer. Maniar will be tested on the chemistry and math topics in the beginning of the year.

“I don’t think it’s a lot because we have a lot of time to do it and it’s not that much relative to our workload in the school year,” Maniar said. “I’ll spend about 10 to 15 hours to do all of it.”

On the other hand, senior Tiara Paul of Tinton Falls attends Biotechnology High School and said that her current summer workload is heavier than that of previous years.

Seniors at Biotech must write their Extended Essay, a 4,000 word research paper required by the school’s International Baccalaureate curriculum. Despite the increase in summer work for seniors, Paul said the work is manageable.

“Summer work has never been stressful for me since I am not one to procrastinate,” Paul said.

Senior Sara Timney of Tinton Falls, a student at the Marine Academy of Science and Technology, said she typically has to read two or three books for her English class and complete a math packet each summer.

Timney said that time management is the key to completing her summer work.

“I find my summer work easy to manage if I work on it a little each day,” Timney said. “However, I often procrastinate and wait until August, which makes it a lot harder.”