The View from Summer Term
By: Nika Chugh, VP Marketing
What is Kellogg like between June and September?
Oh, summer term. For many students, this may be a foreign concept, as their June plans were focused on summer internships or travel itineraries. However, for many students in the Evening & Weekend program, this is a reality of our Kellogg experience.
In the summer, things feel a little quieter. Cohorts are smaller as some students take the summer off or prioritize online or hybrid classes. The normal frenetic energy of Kellogg slows to a hum, which, at least for me, is a nice change of pace. Conversations at Kellogg Table, the Evening & Weekend program’s pre-class ritual, center around summer weekend getaways and the hottest restaurant opening in the city (NAIA was at the top of everyone’s list!).
Fun fact: I actually started at Kellogg in the summer quarter of 2025, so my first introduction to Kellogg was in this calmer environment. Once fall started, I quickly learned to adjust to the chaos, but returning to it again this year felt like greeting a familiar friend after a long nine months away. This created a reflection point for me, allowing me to actually sit in what my first year at Kellogg was like: chaotic, life-changing, memorable, overwhelming at times—but worth it all the same.
Even though it may seem calmer, that doesn’t mean the rigor of the classes is any less. Our classes, like always, required us to show up prepared and ready to participate, which meant many late nights reviewing cases or meeting with classmates in between their summer obligations. My Marketing in Emerging Markets team regularly met at 10 pm when the day finally felt quiet—both a blessing and a curse!
My weeks were spent deciding whether to spend sunny days at the lake or prepare for class; enjoy late nights and ball games with friends or re-read cases; and plan Euro summer or write final papers (writing papers won on that one…my Euro summer will have to wait until 2027). I left summer quarter having spent quality time with old and new friends alike, getting to know classmates I hadn’t met before, and learning how to balance travel with my work obligations and class attendance.
For example, I attended the Bronze World Cup game this summer in Miami (yes, I did indeed get to see Jude Bellingham in the flesh), but instead of taking a full week off to revel in the Miami sunshine like others who attended, I flew in Friday morning, took a meeting in the American Airlines terminal and then headed out to enjoy my weekend before returning to Chicago on Sunday afternoon. Not exactly what I imagined my late 20’s looking like, but Kellogg has taught me to embrace the adventure.
As is everything as an Evening and Weekend student at Kellogg, taking classes this summer required me to flex my time-management skills and my prioritization skills and taught me one important lesson: always have a portable charger on you, as you never know when you’ll need to plug in last second to update a deck or edit a paper before submission!
For many of us, a summer term is inevitable to graduate in the timeframe we’d like to, requiring sacrifice and some adjustments to what “summer” means for us. All the same, I’m happy with what my second, and hopefully last, summer term gave me. As we embark on another fall term, I’m ready to see what it and the rest of my second year have in store for me. More classes and KSA events, touchpoints with friends, opportunities to make connections and surely, more memories that will last a lifetime.
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