Summer is coming up fast and teachers and students have to figure out how to spend more than two months away from school.
Most teachers would ideally spend summer relaxing and getting away from the work of the school year, but many find the time to travel and visit new places. French 3 teacher Alana Scott’s ideal summer vacation would be traveling to new places and relaxing.
“I would travel all over the world, through Europe, Asia, Africa,” Scott said. “Just relax and do lots of self care things. Exercise, massages, time with friends.”
As for this summer, Scott’s plans are still up in the air.
“I don’t have any concrete plans yet, but I would like to travel a little bit,” Scott said. “I definitely plan to spend time with my son, and I also will be going to my sister’s baby shower.”
AP Biology teacher Tyler Richman also plans on visiting family over summer, as well as spending time with his cat.
“I haven’t decided yet but I’ve got a family reunion, so I’ll visit some family,” Richman said. “I’ll probably just try and get some rest, relax, and hang out with my cat.”
Richman’s ideal summer would consist of trying things he wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to during the school year.
“[Summer for me would be] a mixture of relaxing, getting energy back, bracing myself for the new school year,” Richman said. “But also maybe getting some traveling in, seeing friends and family, and just catching up on things I want to do.”
World history and government teacher Alexander Geller would also want to travel over summer, specifically to Europe.
“My ideal summer would be traveling to Europe. I’m planning a trip to go to Ireland next summer,” Geller said. “[I’m] trying to live life to the fullest.”
Geller’s summer will not include summer school for the first time in five years since the San Ramon Valley Unified School District canceled all in-person classes because of budget cuts.
“[The] majority of my time is going to be spent moving to my new house and getting organized,” Geller said. “I’m [planning] a trip to go to Boston and a few other locations.”
Geller isn’t the only teacher who taught summer school who had to adjust plans this year.
English teacher Abraham Kim also will have a different summer from previous years without summer school.
“Now that we no longer have summer school as an option to pay for my mortgage, I actively have to look for work.” Kim said.
Kim has a simple idea of an ideal summer by wanting to get the best of both worlds.
“[My ideal summer is to] stay productive, but also find ways to decompose,” Kim said.
While most teachers would travel if given the opportunity, students have more carefree summer plans, with many choosing to stay home.
Many students plan on relaxing during the summer, while others have plans to spend their summer working.
Sophomore Visalakshi Akella plans to spend summer sleeping, something she can’t do much during the school year.
“What I like doing over summer is sleeping for 10 hours,” Akella said. “I like to eat a lot of food, and spend quality time with my sister.”
Akella isn’t the only one looking to spend time with siblings.
Sophomore Liana Dungca will spend more time with her sister as well.
“I’m going to be working my summer job. It’s my second year as a lifeguard,” Dungca said. “I’m most likely going to spend a lot of time with my family since my sister is graduating from college.”
Some students will be giving back to the community and traveling this summer.
Sophomore Aashna Singh’s summer will be busy.
“I have a summer program in Arizona State University for journalism, and I’m also going to be volunteering every single day,” Singh said. “I’m also going to go to France and Belgium.”
Singh’s ideal vacation would be to leave the country and spend summer in Monaco.
While teachers and students spend the school year teaching and learning in classrooms, respectively, summer break is an opportunity for everyone to get away from this environment and have fun before it’s time to go back in the fall.
