Summer is a time to unwind and de-stress: no homework, no tests, no worries. SDA students spent their summers participating in a wide variety of activities including anything from relaxing at home to visiting exciting new places.

“Iceland was unbelievable. We saw like billions of puffins and puffins are so used to people. And they live with the rabbits because rabbits borrow and the puffins live in the borrows so they just kind of live together which is really cute. And I ate puffin which kind of tasted like Slim Jim because it was smoked. I ate whale and it was gross…I ate whale again and it was still gross,” said senior Alex Dewart.

“My friend Shannon and I went to Wisconsin to my family’s cottage. It was a really good bonding experience before she moved to Japan,” said senior Zoe Griffiths

“I went to Japan for two weeks and got the chance to learn about its amazing culture,” said sophomore Avery Giblin

“I worked at a Boy Scout camp called Emerald Bay on Catalina Island, as a handicraft instructor teaching art merit badges,” said senior Bella Colletta

“Over the summer my grandparents took me on a World War II tour of Europe; we went to France, Belgium, Germany, and Austria. We saw lots of museums and military stuff, and just adventured. Paris was very fun, because I went there with my grandparents before the tour started, so we just got to chill in Paris and go to a bunch of museums, including the Louvre, and explore by ourselves,” said sophomore Luke Lawver

“I went white water rafting with friends at the Klamath River in Northern California. It was very fun and very wet. I fell in during one of the rapids and it wasn’t really that scary because I only fell in for a couple seconds, but then my friends started screaming and pulled me back in,” said freshman Julie Daughters

“I went to Belize, and we went cave tubing, zip lining through tree tops, repelled a 300 foot cliff, went snorkeling with sharks, sting rays, turtles, and fish,” said sophomore Ashlyn Gray.

“I went to England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. My favorite part of the trip was Barra because it was super pretty. We hiked to the top of a mountain in Fishguard, Wales. We also hiked to the highest point in Iona, Scotland. Then we went fishing for salmon in Stornoway, Scotland. Finally, we toured the city in London, Dublin, and Edinboragh,” said sophomore Natalie Paxton.

“I went to Kauai for a week with my family and friends this summer. One day while there, we took a boat along the Napali Coast to snorkel. They let us jump off the boat, and it was really fun!” said junior Shayne Busick.

“My family and I were in Alaska on a family vacation this summer. We were lucky enough to be able to go canoeing up to the base of Davidson glacier. We jumped from one glacier to the next!” said junior Jennifer Kerr.

“This summer, I went to UCSD and developed an algae-based foam I used to make a fingerboard,” said junior Trevor Anderberg.

“Over summer, I went to India. I spent time with my family and went around the country, like I saw the Taj Mahal which was very pretty. Then I saw the India Gate, which is a pretty big tourist attraction. I went shopping too. The malls are really big. It was really hot in India, like Arizona basically,” said junior Sonia Rathee.

“I went to England and Ireland for six weeks over summer to visit family and go sightseeing. I saw a bunch of really cool things like the colleges in Cambridge, England and the London Eye, that’s interesting, and also the Gap of Dunlow. I preferred England because there were more things to do but Ireland was more beautiful,” said sophomore Kenny Keese.

“I went hiking with my best friends at Black’s Beach and afterwards, we sat at the top and just enjoyed the view. We watched the parasailing and ended up seeing dolphins jumping in the water. It was a gorgeous day, and I live for the moments when you feel like such a small part of this beautiful world,” said senior Mari Harnish.

“My favorite part of summer was Sophie’s birthday because it was the first time all summer that our girl-friend group met with each other. We went to dinner and just had so much fun laughing and talking all night,” said junior Madison Tucker.

“My favorite part of summer happened in early August when my friends and I went to Catalina for a five- day camping trip. On the last day we walked to the east end of the island and played whiffle ball and had a picnic. This was my favorite day because it was so relaxing and simple,” said senior Hailey Reeves.

“I went to Canada with my friend and we watched the Women’s World Cup Final. It was fun and there were a lot of Americans in Canada. They were really loud,” said freshman Sylvia Young.

“I did SAT prep over summer. It was so fun, just sitting there for six hours every day in a chair. All of those English vocab words. After a while they just start getting stuck in your head. You just start memorizing, and start accepting your fate. That’s what I did over summer,” said sophomore Lucia Nino.

“Over summer I had a pretty busy schedule. So for six weeks I went to community college, and the first eight weeks I was doing SUMA, which is SAT prep. Then after that I had two weeks of volunteering, and during that time I also had basketball. So my summer was pretty busy. It was mostly fun except for SAT prep. I was doing public speaking [at the community college]…I went to UCSD…and I helped with Japanese students. Like we would volunteer there and we’d hang out with Japanese students for the entire day,” said junior Kim Quach.

“This summer I went to the U.S. Open of Surf with my gal pals and we didn’t meet Luke Davis, but we met this other surfer Koa Smith. It was a super fun time,” said senior Marissa Padus.

“I went on an ASB retreat in Palm Springs with our fall class! It was so much fun and we got to play glow in the dark capture the flag on the golf course and perform air bands in front of the class. We all had a blast and are so close as a class now,” said senior Courtney Walsh.

“This summer I went on a college road trip all the way up California! I stopped in a lot of cool cities and towns like Santa Barbara, Davis, SLO, Berkeley, and San Francisco where I watched the Pride Parade and went to the Fisherman’s Warf,” said senior Sofia Pisacane.

“I went to San Francisco and I went to Yosemite. Yosemite was my favorite, although all waterfalls were pretty much dried up because of the drought. I went with just my family and we camped in our pop-up trailer; it’s pretty deluxe. There was a thunderstorm and lightning struck a tree about a mile away so we couldn’t leave the campground for a while because there was a burning tree. There almost was a forest fire,” said senior Aziza Rishmawi.

“One of the main highlights of my vacation was going to Seattle for about a week or so. I went with my entire family and also met up with my first and second cousins up there and we spent three or four days together. It was really cool. The whole trip was very fun but going to the Seattle Mariners game and, you know, getting to spend time with some of my family members I hadn’t seen in a while was a highlight. It was a fun time. My little cousins are like nine, ten years old so they like baseball and they’re just all over the place so they are just really fun to hang out with,” said senior Eric Vela.

“Over summer I went to Hawaii, Arizona and Washington. Hawaii was my favorite place I went to because it was really relaxing. I went to the beach a lot and I got really tan. I went to Arizona with my dad, which was really fun because we got to bond, but it was 115°F, which was way too hot. In Washington D.C., I took my grandpa sightseeing and passed by the White House, which was very cool to see,” said sophomore Tiana Serro.

“I didn’t do too much over summer. I mostly spent time with my family and slept in. I made sure I stayed active by playing sports like basketball and soccer. I was a little nervous for my first year of high school so I’m glad I spent my summer taking it easy so that I was more relaxed going into school,” said freshman Emanuel Nuñez.

“Over summer I went to Mexico for three weeks and celebrated my quinceañera and my parents’ wedding. It was really special seeing the unity and love between my parents. My quinceañera was also a very special event for me. I wore a big pink dress that made me feel like a princess. It was weird not having all my friends there but it also let me focus more on family time. My favorite part of Mexico was all the beautiful sites to see, like the waterfalls and lakes. Over all I had an amazing summer that I will always remember,” said sophomore Itzel Torres.

“I went to Hawaii and stayed in my room mostly. We went kayaking at one point and during that we climbed up a cliff and jumped off of it… into the water,” said freshman Kristin Komar.

“I thought about all the work I had to do, and realized I didn’t want to do any of it. Then I thought of a thousand ways how not to do it,” said senior Julianne Miller.
“I went to DC and got to cut open cadavers at University of Maryland. It was sick, bro,” said senior Natalie Perkins.

“This summer I spent six weeks in Matagalpa, Nicaragua with the program Amigos De Las Americas. I stayed with a host family in the campo, ran camps with the local youth and facilitated the renovation of the cemetery in their community. I became extremely close to my community, especially my host family, and I plan on going back to visit them in the future,” said senior Sierra Gasperoni.

“This summer I went to Europe with my family and we visited London, Scotland, and Italy. I also had the opportunity to participate in a middle east-centered peacemaking program called Hands of Peace. The rest of the summer I spent teaching art to kids, hiking as much as possible, and hanging out with my friends,” said senior Sophie Henry.

“I started my college applications, which was not as fun but needs to get done,” said senior Mari Harnish.

“This summer I went to comic con! I met Bill Murray, Seth Meyers, Taren Killum, and Derek Waters. Bill Murray is my favorite because I love him and I love Wes Anderson movies and he is in all of them. I also dressed up as Tina from Bob’s Burgers and Rapunzel from Tangled. But the Rapunzel costume hurt my neck; the wig is so heavy. I actually made the entire costume myself. I’m definitely going to go again next year. I also went to Missouri to visit family and see the Saint Louis City Museum. It’s my favorite place in the whole world. It’s made out of just recycled randomness. It’s like a giant indoor playground for adults. Yeah, my summer was really fun. But I should have exercised, probably,” said senior June Hasty.

“Over summer, I went to Japan with 20 people from my Japanese class, plus my sensei. We went to Kyoto and did five days of sightseeing there. We saw lots of temples, bamboo forests, and historical sights, because Kyoto used to be the capital. Then we went to Toyama and did a homestay with the students that visit SDA each year. It was fun to meet a new family and stay with them, get a chance to relax. I’d like to go to Japan again, just maybe not on a school trip so I’d have more freedom. But it was really fun to go with my friends. Oh! We also went to Nara, which is where all the holy deer are. They just wander around everywhere. They don’t attack you, but they’d swarm you if you had food. My friend almost got trampled! We didn’t help; we just took pictures,” said senior Emma Noble.

“On July 9th I saw One Direction, and it was the most amazing thing ever because I was so close to them… I got to sit next to my internet best friend, which was amazing,” said sophomore
Melina Olivera.

“I stayed home. What did I read? Black Boy,” said sophomore Raquel Gomez.