After 10 months of rigorous academic activity, students were more than ready to leave the building for summer break. For some students, vacation meant spending time with loved ones and relaxing at home. For others, it meant hopping on a plane and touring new areas around the globe. The Classic asked numerous students to share their summer experiences.  

Many students spent their summer vacation traveling with the purpose of visiting their family. Sophomore Victoria Truchel visited Poland. She spent her trip, “visiting cousins, aunts, and uncles on my mom’s side while also stopping to visit important landmarks.” 

Freshman Emma Wu and her family drove across the country to California to visit her grandparents. She said, “I haven’t seen them for three years since they live in Shanghai, and because of COVID.” Junior Kaia Lain visited Korea and was able to meet her family. She said, “I even met my great grandma who’s 96 [years old].”  Kaia also said , “we took a plane to Jeju Island, which was so gorgeous with its black rocks formed from lava and [its] green plants.” 

Junior Jonathan Prout visited England, and during his time, he worked on his family’s farm. He said, “I had to wake up at 5 AM and [I] continue[d] working until 6 PM or 7 PM depending on how much work needed to be completed.” 

Other students spent this summer celebrating birthdays. Sophomore Charles Cuzzo celebrated his grandfather’s birthday on the “Symphony of the Seas” cruise from the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. He shared that his cruise had ziplines which he used, and at the Bahamas port he visited the beach.

Junior Shannon Jackman visited Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey to celebrate her 16th birthday. She stated, “This is an annual tradition, as my birthday is in the summer, a perfect time for roller coasters.” 

Some students also attended special functions, including weddings and engagement parties. Junior Gurjot Gill, who went to Cincinnati, Ohio this summer for a traditional Indian wedding, stated, “Due to the pandemic, I hadn’t seen the majority of my family for a few years, and it was definitely one of the highlights of my year [to see] my cousins again after so long.” During his time in Ohio, he stated that his favorite part was “being able to wear my cultural Punjabi clothes and being able to express who I am in the context of my culture and religion.” 

Senior Jaabir Rabbani also visited family friends in Buffalo this summer for a wedding. He enjoyed “staying in an Airbnb and chilling with some old friends.” 

Junior Chris Bhoodai traveled to Georgia, saying that he went, “to see family and to go to my cousin’s engagement party.”

Students visited other parts of New York as part of their educational summer programs. Junior Zarah Masud and her summer engineering class visited upstate New York as part of her summer program’s final trip. The purpose of the trip, she said, was for students to successfully launch their rockets from the class in attempts to get a rocketry license.

While students visited a plethora of locations, many agree that these vacations helped alleviate the stress and tension that they experienced last school year.

Photo by Erica Lee