Summer Comes to a Close by Hadley West

Goodbye, summer 2022. 

With the 2022-23 school year starting and the weather beginning to cool down, summer has come to a close. 

Every student in Lakeland did something different this summer, whether it was non-stop fun with friends, a full-time job, or sports practice and games daily. 

Shelby Larcher, a senior at Lakeland, had a less fun summer than others. During an interview, she said, “I had my wisdom teeth taken out, and foot surgery… and I worked at Westwood and the fair”.

Many people move the unenjoyable chores into the summer because that is when they have free time. Such as Shelby getting multiple surgeries done when she has time to recover before going back to school. 

Addison Raebel, a Lakeland senior, played lots of volleyball when summer practices started. When she wasn’t playing volleyball, she did some camping in St. Regis with her friend Ellie Carlson where they caught crawdads, swam, and played beach volleyball. 

Many memories were made throughout the summer, but her favorite is, “My favorite memory was floating in the river with my friends.” 

Teachers don’t stay at school and teach in an empty room of desks. They do have lives outside of the walls of Lakeland. 

Dustin Frank, a principal assistant at Lakeland Highschool, made many memories with his family and friends this summer. He was happy to have time to work on and finish his shop during his free time over the summer. 

He did some traveling to Las Vegas and Hawaii, where at a luau, he ate the best pulled pork sandwich and Hawaiian roll he had ever had. He made his favorite summer memory in Hawaii: “I went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay with my family”. 

Many people use summer for seeing the world and traveling to see family.

Personally, I did some swimming in the lake with my dog at the beginning of summer; then, once soccer season began, I only worked and had practice. When student-athletes play fall sports, practices usually start in June and take up half of their time. 

I think whether I am working, traveling, playing sports, or just staring at a wall, it is usually much more fun than going to school every day. Getting up and going to school every day does give you a schedule, though. 

Only 265 days until summer begins again.