As UHS students are overcoming the thrill of their summer adventures and settling into the school year ahead of them, here are some things that your peers have experienced during the summer of 2023. Whether it was binge-watching TV shows at home or going on exciting traveling adventures, each student has had a unique experience to share from this summer.
The first (and most exciting) group of people are those who were constantly traveling. Be it a road trip from Southern to Northern California or a full-blown vacation to Europe, it is certainly a good feeling to finally escape Irvine after 180 days of school. One such student who took a fun out-of-town vacation is sophomore Balin Weintraub. During the summer, Weintraub had the opportunity to fly to Miami for the Junior Olympics. Aside from playing soccer, Weintraub also experienced the bonus of seeing some out-of-state friends.
“I got to spend a ton of time with people from other states and countries who I wouldn’t get to usually see, but have talked [with] on Snapchat all the time,” Weintraub said.
Different cultures and food also comprise part of the interesting contrast between Irvine and out-of-town destinations.
“The place was in the U.S. but it was totally different from California,” Weintraub said. “Every night, all of the neighbors got together to eat, and we don’t have anything like that in California [where] we are all very independent.”
While Weintraub’s summer highlights included a tightly-packed travel schedule, some people prefer to have a “staycation,” where they stay at home and play video games or binge-watch Netflix shows. In fact, staying at home during the summer is a great way to reset yourself after a busy school year, particularly after stressing about finals.
Sophomore Aydean Eskandari is one of many who spent their summer in Irvine. He busied himself by taking acting classes, coaching his swim team and creating a movie list for the 2023 summer. Eskandari also read a lot of books and practiced the guitar during his free time.
In case you were curious, his top five summer movies list goes as follows:
- “Pulp Fiction”
- “The Hateful Eight”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “The Hangover”
- “American Psycho”
There is also another distinct group of people who supplemented their learning by attending summer programs. Junior Michael Li and sophomore Bryan Corkery are among some of these students.
Li spent six weeks out of his summer attending an out-of-state summer camp called the Ross Mathematics Program. This camp was located at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana, where Li created many lasting memories and bonds with his fellow participants. Out-of-state summer programs like Ross provide participants with an experience of living on a college campus, something that most high schoolers are unaccustomed to.
“Something that struck me was the modern and technological aspect of the college compared to the dilapidated bareness of the college’s surrounding atmosphere,” Li said.
Corkery also found himself busy participating in a camp this summer. Specifically, he traveled to Boston University for a two-week summer program to study economics (and play golf in his free time).
Other students really took the idea of a vacation seriously and jam-packed every single day of their schedule to travel. For instance, sophomore Luca Valdevit was able to spend quality time with his family in Italy in addition to traveling to Hawaii, where he learned how to sea dive and fish. While recounting his summer experiences, Valdevit noticed several distinctions between Italy and Southern California.
“I’d say the main difference between the U.S. and Italy is the difference in culture [for] the people and society,” Valdevit said. “The quality of food is also a huge difference.”
For sophomore Sarah Xiong, this summer was an opportunity to gain new hobbies. In her case, Xiong became addicted to collecting resin shaker keychains, buying and selling them online for tens of dollars each. She even learned to make resin shaker keychains by herself.
“Resin shakers are definitely a lot harder to make compared to bookmarks or solid letters, but the results were a hundred percent worthwhile,” Xiong said.
Xiong also pursued her childhood interest in swimming this summer, attending every single Irvine Swim League (ISL) practice that her team had in preparation for the upcoming swim season at UHS.
The final group of people are those students who were obsessed with over-preparing for the upcoming school year. In particular, sophomore Nicca Majdi initially went to Northern California for the start of her summer, where she played sports and spent time on the beach. As a rising sophomore, Majdi realized that she would soon be taking the highly-anticipated AP United States History (APUSH) course. As a result, Majdi tried catching up with the coursework ahead of time, spending the rest of her summer reviewing course content to get a head start before the school year commenced.
No matter if you stayed in Irvine the entire summer or traveled across the globe, the summer of 2023 marked another chapter in your life; another snapshot to add to the picture frame of your experiences. Only more adventures and opportunities await, so don’t be afraid to branch out and see where your passions may take you.
