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Point of View

This week is perfect beach weather — scorching hot and not a cloud in the sky. Yet the campus is crawling with students with their noses in their books, whether Harry Potter or history. We set out to answer a burning question:

It's summer! What are you doing here?

'Unfortunately, I'm in summer school. I'm taking Psych 101, which is a requirement for my major, to get it over with. Everyone thinks it's an introductory course but it isn't; it's an upper-level course that's mostly statistics. But at least in the summer, a lot is cut out and we don't have to learn as much. After I'm done, I have a trip planned to Maui for two weeks. That's my reward.''
—Rachel Stewart, fifth-year Psychology major. Hometown: San Bruno, CA
Rachel Stewart

Aaron Gacias 'I have to take summer school. I'm taking Bio 1B and Math 16B, getting some of my requirements out of the way so I can take more fun stuff during the semester. Then I'll head home for a week before I have to be back at school. They're a lot of work, but I'm happy doing it now.'
—Aaron Gacias, third-year intended Molecular and Cell Biology major. Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

'Pretty much like everyone else right now, I'm in summer school. I'm taking MCB 102, trying to get one of the harder requirements over with. Summer classes have their pros and cons: they're good because you have a lot more time to study, but they also go so much faster. After my class is done, I'm just going to hang out and do some of the things that I never have time to do during the school year.'
—Connie Chow, third-year Bioengineering major. Hometown: Southern California.
Connie Chow

Michael Hays
'Well, I'm just a Berkeley student temporarily — I'm taking an improvisational theater class here during the summer. I do a lot of performance as part of my musical and storytelling pieces at CCAC [California College of Arts and Crafts, in Oakland] and I'm using the class to get training that CCAC doesn't offer yet. I wanted to see what a more traditional acting class could offer me, and it's been great.'
—Michael Hays, fourth-year Film/Video Performance major at CCAC

'I'm taking Bio 1B and Asian American Studies R2B classes in summer school, one for my prerequisite and the other to fulfill a requirement. It's not very fun, but I still have to take it even if I don't like it. So I am doing them now so that I can take more upper-division classes in the fall. I'll have one week before school starts again to relax, and I think I'm just going to stay home.'
—Amy Kwong, third-year intended Earth & Planetary Science major. Hometown: San Francisco.
Amy Kwong

Rachel Melman
'I'm here because I just got out of my cultural psychology class, Psych 166. I'm getting my humanities requirement out of the way. I like taking this class in the summer, because it's shorter, more condensed, and I can really concentrate on it without other classes distracting me. I also like the more relaxed feeling on campus — it's not as crowded and the weather is so nice.'
—Rachel Melman, third-year Bioengineering major. Hometown: Los Angeles, CA.

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