Meredith Wagner | Arts & Life Editor

While other schools around the country close their doors and release their students into the approaching summer weather, Baylor students are doing just the opposite. Returning from a much-needed week off is especially difficult as the Texas sky turns from gray to blue and the grass from brown to green. While the warming weather is known to distract students from their studies, it can simultaneously help students harness positive energy and study in comfort. To remain on track during the coming months, here are five hot spots for studying in the sun:

1. Cameron Park

With plenty of green and fresh air to go around, Cameron Park meets all of your outdoor study needs aside from internet connection. If you need to read a novel for an English class, write a paper without doing much online research or refresh your mind on hand-written notes, do so outdoors. On a nice day, the atmosphere will give you your fill of the outdoors without hindering your productivity. Lay out a blanket on one of the expansive, grassy fields, or hang your hammock on one of the park’s many sturdy trees. If you don’t have proper transportation to make it to Cameron Park at your leisure, catch a ride from a friend or ride your bike on Waco’s bike-friendly streets.

Yes, studying without wifi can prove difficult in today’s world, but disconnecting for a while and being in nature can greatly benefit your health and your studies.

2. Pinewood Coffee Bar

If you’re not much of an outdoor person and you find yourself needing a little caffeine pick-me-up, Pinewood is your answer. The booths lining the back wall are surrounded by expansive windows, providing a spacious and bright space for enjoying the sunshine. Each of the booths is accompanied by an outlet, their wifi is reliable, their choice of music is always spot-on and the outdoor patio is perfected by a beautiful tree with far-reaching branches, taking you to another world without going too far into nature at all.

3. Armstrong Browning Library’s Garden of Contentment

A favorite to many, Armstrong Browning’s Garden of Contentment is a perfect combination of outdoor and “indoor” studying. Connecting to the wifi from the library itself, students can enjoy studying outdoors with the same benefits provided by a library or coffee shop. Baylor even went so far as to install electrical outlets on many of the trees, allowing visitors to plug in outdoors if need be. The garden’s tables are spread out and spacious enough for multiple books or multiple study partners. The birds are almost always singing, which makes for pleasant background noise paired with the trickling water of the nearby fountain.

4. Jones Library

Moody has carried thousands of students through long study sessions and late nights of wiping expo marker residue off of dry erase boards. However trustworthy of a library, one can only stick with Moody for so long before growing tired of her echoing chambers and crowded halls. Luckily, through a long corridor past the technology desk on the first floor, Jones library provides additional space and a refreshing environment to those who frequent Moody. Jones is well decorated with potted plants, and the tables tucked away behind the rows of books are surrounded by vast windows.