Ahhh… smell that freshly mown grass? Hear that sizzle from your neighbor’s grill? Feel that sunlight on your bare legs? All the signs point to only one conclusion: finally, summer is here. Now the only question is, how are you going to be spending it? While the rest of us are at home, struggling to combat summer boredom, some LM kids are taking full advantage of what summer has to offer by going off on great adventures.
Junior Lauren Zelouf will be traveling to Peru for a month, through the Putney Student Travel Program. The program includes teaching English, helping to build a school, learning weaving techniques, and more; all in the beautiful town of Ollantaytambo. In this town, there is no electricity or running water, so Lauren and her group of fifteen will have to get used to very different living conditions. On the weekends, the group will leave their village and go on adventures, such as climbing the ancient Incan estate of Machu Picchu. “I’m really excited,” explained Zelouf. However, she’s also a bit apprehensive, because “its also the first time my twin sister, Rachel, and I are separated.”
Juniors aren’t the only ones travelling far away. Sophomores Grace DuFresne, Paige Henderson, and Jacek Kacarow will be traveling to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji for twenty-two days. They’re going as “student ambassadors” for the People to People Program. They’ll be visiting famous sites, such as the Sydney Opera House, as well as more obscure ones, such as small Maori tribal centers. In addition, they will experience the Great Barrier Reef, holding koalas in the wild, learning to play cricket at the vast Sydney Cricket Ground, and living like the locals during a home-stay in New Zealand.
While most students are sweating in the summer heat, freshmen Alex Fuchs and Jake Berkowitz will be bundling up to hit the snowy slopes. They found a teen tour that will take them snowboarding in southwest Canada, where the average summer temperature is around 50 degrees. “It should be fun!” Fuchs exclaimed.
Any of these unique experiences catch your eye? There are sure to be even more interesting ones running next summer. You’ll definitely find a summer program that floats your boat; whether you’re into climbing Incan ruins like Lauren, watching toilets flush the other way around like Grace, Paige, and Jacek, getting air on Canadian slopes like Jake and Alex, I promise there is a trip for you. So go on, enjoy your summer adventures whatever they may be, and we’ll see you next fall when you write about them for The Merionite!
By Danielle Moskow
Class of 2011
