From internships and soft skills to entrepreneurship and rest: A practical guide for LASUites preparing for life beyond the classroom.

For many students, the holiday is simply a chance to breathe after a demanding semester of lectures, assignments, tests and examinations. And honestly, after months of academic pressure, you deserve the rest.

But a three-month break can also be more than just a pause from school. It can be an opportunity to explore, learn, gain experience and prepare for the world that awaits beyond the university.

Because eventually, the examinations will end, the results will be released, the graduation pictures will be taken, and the question will become: “What next?”

Life after university, particularly in Nigeria, is not exactly a walk in the park. Having a good degree is important, but increasingly, employers want to know what you can actually do with the knowledge you’ve acquired.

Imagine sitting in a job interview a few years from now and being asked, “What can you bring to the table?” or “Why should we hire you?”

Your CGPA may open the door, but it may not be enough to keep you in the room.

Employers are also looking at how you communicate, how you work with others, how you solve problems, how you handle pressure and how well you adapt to new situations. These are the soft skills that can distinguish one graduate from another.

And the good news? You don’t need to wait until graduation to develop them.

Volunteering, joining projects, taking leadership responsibilities, working with a team, speaking publicly, practising active listening and learning to receive constructive criticism are all ways to develop skills that classrooms alone may not teach you.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW

Beyond soft skills, the holiday is also an excellent time to acquire practical and digital skills.

Technology continues to reshape almost every industry, making digital literacy less of an advantage and more of a necessity.

Whether it is graphic design, video editing, social media management, data analysis, coding, photography, content creation or learning how to use professional tools relevant to your field, there is probably a skill you’ve been saying, “I’ll learn it someday.”

Well, this could be your someday.

You don’t necessarily have to become an expert in three months. Start somewhere. Take a course. Watch tutorials. Practice. Build something. The goal is to leave the holiday knowing something you didn’t know before.

GET REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE

One of the most valuable ways to spend the holiday is by gaining practical experience.

An internship can give you a glimpse into what working in your chosen field actually looks like. It allows you to learn workplace etiquette, understand professional expectations, build relationships and discover whether the career path you’ve imagined for yourself is actually what you want.

And it doesn’t always have to be a big organisation.

Volunteer with an NGO. Assist a professional. Join a project. Work with a small business. Offer your skills to an organisation that needs them.

Your first experience does not have to be perfect. It just needs to teach you something.

By the time you eventually begin applying for full-time opportunities, having something practical to show for your time outside the classroom can make a significant difference.

DON’T SLEEP ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP

For some LASUites, the holiday can also be the perfect time to explore entrepreneurship.

Look around campus and you will find students doing remarkable things outside the classroom: baking, fashion design, photography, makeup artistry, shoemaking, hairstyling, content creation and a host of other businesses.

You don’t necessarily need millions of naira to start something.

You could learn a vocational skill, turn an existing talent into a service, start a small business or simply test a business idea you’ve had for a while.

Beyond the possibility of making money, entrepreneurship teaches you something equally valuable: how to solve problems, manage people, communicate with customers and take responsibility for your work.

Many of the businesses we see today started small. That aunty or uncle whose business you admire may have started with little more than a skill, an idea and the willingness to begin.

BUT PLEASE, REST.

Productivity should not become another form of pressure.

After an intense academic session, rest is also productive.

Sleep. Spend time with family and friends. Travel if you can. Watch movies. Read something outside your course. Pick up an old hobby. Try something completely new. Give yourself room to breathe.

You don’t have to spend every single day of the holiday chasing certificates, internships and skills.

The goal isn’t to return to school exhausted with a folder full of certificates.

The goal is to return better.

Better rested.
Better skilled.
Better informed.
More experienced.
More confident.

THE BREAK IS YOURS. USE IT WELL.

Dear LASUite, there is no single formula for having a productive holiday.

For one person, it may mean securing an internship. For another, it may mean learning a new skill. Someone else may start a small business, volunteer, read more, explore a passion or simply take the time to recover from an exhausting semester.

Whatever you choose, be intentional about it.

Because three months can pass incredibly quickly.

You can either look back and say, “Where did the time go?”

Or you can look back and say, “I’m glad I used that time.”

The choice, as always, is yours.

Enjoy the break. Rest. Explore. Learn. Build. And most importantly, grow.

See you next semester, LASUites.