The long days of summer are fading away and students around the world have dusted off their backpacks, gathered supplies, and marched back to the classroom for a new school year. Whether you've begun another middle school term, kicked off your last year of collegiate study, or anything in between, we're about to give you all of the tools you’ll need to have a blast playing StarCraft II (AFTER your studies are done) this Fall semester.

Be sure to put your multitasking and critical thinking skills to the test by penciling a StarCraft II session in after wrapping up your homework, because from September 23-30, we'll be honoring back to school month by greatly rewarding your dedication to learning the ways of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg.

Next week, you'll find that a brand new Feat of Strength achievement and three exclusive character portraits are yours for the taking. What's more, those of you who haven't quite reached max level in Heart of the Swarm will be pleased to know that during this time, we're offering a 100% bonus to all XP gains during this time. You read that correctly. For seven full days, you'll earn double the normal amount of experience points, so you can hit the books and still earn those levels.

Of course, a fresh school year isn't just about history lectures or doodling Zerglings in your notebook; it's also about meeting new friends. Now is the perfect time to introduce all of your new pals to StarCraft II: Starter Edition, which is free to download and play. In addition to the rewards mentioned above, Starter Edition players will enjoy the flexibility of playing with all three StarCraft II races next week. Those who choose to upgrade to the full game will also receive a considerable discount on copies of both Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm. Rally your classmates and log in to Battle.net, because one of the best ways to enjoy an evening after your homework’s done is to team up for Ladder matches and Arcade games.

Don't worry about taking notes just yet. We'll unveil all of the StarCraft II Back to School week details very soon, but spread the word and practice hard, because this will definitely be on the midterm.

Special thanks to Jon Burton of Carbot Animations for producing Back to School artwork. You can watch more of his StarCrafts animations here.