SLIPPERY ROCK - While most teens spent the summer resting, two Slippery Rock High School students put that time to good use.

One attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., for two pre-med courses while the other learned about the global marketplace at Pennsylvania's Governor's School.

According to senior Kayla Madison, adjusting was difficult both ways between Slippery Rock and Harvard. At first, she had trouble adjusting to the rigors of college coursework during her two-month stay. Writing a 10-page paper and preparing an hourlong presentation was the final project for one course.

"Now it doesn't feel like I should be back in high school," she said. "I want to tell everyone here, 'Just you wait and see.'"

Madison also had the adjustment of the city, using the Boston subway to get around instead of driving the country roads around her hometown of Harrisville. After a few subway trips with friends, she found her favorite Mexican restaurant, theater, shops and Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream shop.

One more difference came in the form of housemates where she stayed while at Harvard. The young women and men came from a wide variety of backgrounds with only about half of the teens living in the house born in the United States, she said. Her closest friend from the camp is the nephew of the prime minister of Pakistan, she said.

Courses such as "Functional Anatomy in Vertebrates" and "Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology" will fit in with her planned pre-med major no matter where she chooses to go to college next year.

Her top college choice is Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, but several others are still in the running. Madison said she probably won't choose Harvard, even though she likes New England and didn't mind the hectic city life.

The anatomy class was the hardest for Madison but also the most fascinating. Classes required much memorization but lab time was filled with firsthand looks at bird, eel, turtle, shark and cat specimens.

Her lab partner became ill when the pair cut into their shark to find it was pregnant. Though the placenta squirted everywhere, Madison only objected to washing her shirt six times to get rid of the formaldehyde smell.

"I was so intrigued," she said. "I had to play with everything. When we were done with an animal, I was still cutting into things."

Junior Beth George of Slippery Rock Borough said she's always been interested in business, though her career choices in the future still could include medicine, advertising or marketing.

The five-week Governor's School allowed her to hear from people who started their own businesses or moved up the ranks to become chief executive officers. Each day of the school, which was at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, featured a different speaker.Students also got real-life experience developing a business plan for Bethlehem businesses. George's group worked on a plan for Touchstone Theatre.The group spent five weeks making a 30-page plan that focused on marketing the theater, George said."They didn't have much and attendance was falling in the past year," she said. "They were really excited" with the plan."Owners of the theater said they would use the plan but George was skeptical. However, she was convinced when the group dropped off some computer supplies to the theater a day after presenting the plan and some aspects were already in place.The school featured students and business owners from other countries as well. Students helped to solve problems such as a lack of technology in the smaller countries.Whatever career she chooses, George thinks she'll incorporate business into the job."My mom always said I'd make a good business person because I'm bossy," she said.George and a few friends started a cleaning business last summer, handling advertising and figuring out how much they'd have to make to clear a profit.While she was too busy to continue the business this summer, she may pick it up in the future, she said.