Right now, many of you college students are just easing into a month-long vacation . Well deserved, of course. But believe me, those of us in the workin' world are extremely jealous of you right now (none of us can remember what it was like to have an entire month of vacation ahead of us!).

While it's fantastic to have a month off from classes, many of you probably do have to work over break. Here in the student loans department at Wells Fargo, we'll be seeing some of our college-age summer staff come back to work in January. They help us out through the busy season as we prepare to send out student loans for the second semester.

When I was in college, I often found myself scrambling for odd and temporary jobs to make some extra cash over break. When I look back on it, I probably could have been smarter about how I used that vacation time.

Take my stepdaughter, for instance. She's a college sophomore and—in addition to sleeping late, hanging out with her buddies, and eating some home-cooked meals—she's planning to do some job-shadowing  over her break. She's thinking about a career in occupational therapy  and wants to check it out more closely.

I wish I'd done something similar. Maybe I wouldn't have made any money, but I might have gotten something even more valuable: some insight about the field I was getting into and possibly some good professional contacts that might have led to a summer internship or a job.

Some of you might have a "January term"—where you can take a class or study abroad for a couple of weeks. You don't exactly have a long vacation ahead of you, but you may be getting a great opportunity for travel and studying that you may not have the chance to do after college.

Whether you're working, exploring career options, traveling, or just hanging out with your family, having a month off is so valuable. How are you planning to make the most of your winter break?